Fabrication of 3D fine scale PZT components by ink-jet prototyping process

Abstract
Different investigations have been carried out to optimize an ink-jet printing technique, devoted to the fabrication of 3D fine scale PZT parts, by adjustment of the fluid properties of the ceramic suspensions and by controlling the ejection and impact phenomena. A 10 vol% PZT loaded suspension characterized by a Newtonian behavior, corresponding to a viscosity of 10mPa.s and to a ratio Re/We^1/2 of 5.98 has been selected. The ejection and impact phenomena strongly depend on the driving parameters of the printing head, in particular the formation of the droplet, with satellite or not, as well as its velocity and volume which are function of the pulse amplitude. Moreover, the conditions of ejection (droplet velocity and volume) control the characteristics of the deposit (definition, spreading, thickness uniformity). Sintered PZT pillar array has been achieved by ink-jet printing with a definition equal to 50m. These structures could be very useful to improve the performances of 1-3 ceramic polymer composites for imaging probes or more generally for ultrasonic transducers and also of micro-deformable mirrors for optical adaptive systems.