Experimentation modelling and optimization of electrohydrodynamic inkjet microfabrication approach: a Taguchi regression analysis

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) inkjet is a modern non-contact printing approach, which uses a direct writing technology of functional materials to achieve micro/nanoscale of printing resolution. As an alternative to conventional inkjet technology, the goal of the EHD inkjet printing is to generate uniformly minimized droplets on a substrate. In this study, the effects of applied voltage, standoff height and ink flow rate on droplet diameter formation in EHD inkjet printing process were analysed using Taguchi methodology and regression analysis. Several experiments were carried out using an L27 (313) orthogonal array. Based on signal to noise (S/N) ratio and mean response, optimal droplet diameter was achieved. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to find the significance and percentage of contribution of each input parameter along with their interaction on the output droplet diameter. Analysis of the results revealed that the ink flow rate was the dominant factor that affected the droplet diameter mostly. The effect of the applied voltage is significant until regular ejection starts. It helps reduce droplet diameter more than five times compared with its initial droplet diameter in the absence of the electric field. A confirmation test was carried out with a 90% confidence level to illustrate the effectiveness of the Taguchi optimization method. Both linear and quadratic regression analysis were applied to predict the output droplet diameter. The predicted result from the model and actual test results are very close to each other, justifying the significance of the models.