Our work is focused in two areas: 3D printing of particle-loaded polymer filaments and field assisted sintering (FAST), also known as spark plasma sintering (SPS). For 3D printing, we can produce our own filament in house, for example polymers loaded with high dielectric powders such as barium titanate. For the printing aspect, we have a variety of commercial and in-house 3D printers, with a focus on multi-material, co-printing capability. In some applications, we remove the polymeric binder either using thermal or chemical methods, while other applications the composite, multi-material structure is used directly. One example is 3D printed dielectric origami where 3D printed high dielectric barium titanate/polymer cube-like elements of mm-scale are linked in a flexible origami array by co-printed flexible polymer hinges. These structures are being explored for tunable microwave antennas. For the FAST research, we are focused on joining dissimilar materials such as ultra-thick tungsten coatings on patterned steel substrates for fusion reactor armour applications.
