'Electrospray' System Could Revolutionize Manufacturing; NSF Grant Recipient to Explore 3D Printing Technique
Thursday, February 11, 2016 - 12:40
in Physics & Chemistry
Paul Chiarot, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Binghamton University, recently received a five-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's most prestigious program for early-career researchers, and he aims to redefine 3D printing at a very fine scale. His "electrospray" technique puts tiny particles into a solvent and applies them to a surface, creating electronics in a process not unlike an inkjet printer. "The normal way we make things is we put material everywhere and then etch away what we don't want," Chiarot says. "You might end up etching away 90 or even 95 percent of the material. If you're printing, you can just put the material where you want it to be."