Predication and measurement of deflected trajectory and temperature history of uniform metal droplets in microstructures fabrication

The deposition of metal droplets has been attracted wide interests for potential applying in microstructures fabrication. A uniform droplet generator with image acquiring system and droplet temperature measuring system was established. A coupling analysis method on combination of droplets dynamic and thermal models was proposed. Effect of experimental parameters on deflected trajectory and the temperature history of the uniform droplets was investigated. The measured trajectory and temperature history agreed well with the predicted results, indicating the validity of the proposed analysis method. The predicted results with different experimental parameters showed that the deflected trajectories and thermal histories of the droplets with diameters close to 100 μm or less were strongly dependent on their sizes. Small droplets had a narrow deposition length for obtaining parts with good metallurgical bonding. The predicted results also showed that it was effective in controlling the deflected trajectories and thermal histories of droplets by adjusting the pressure when it was low. At last, micro alloy tubes with good metallurgical bonding were obtained using 50 μm diameter nozzle when the experimental parameters were chosen according to theoretical models. The deposited results show that proper parameters for microstructures deposition can be obtained according to the proposed analysis method.