Volume-conservative modeling of structures manufactured by molten drop-on-drop deposition

Abstract

An improved analytic model to accurately determine the geometry of structures manufactured by molten drop-on-drop deposition is presented. This deposition mode allows quasi-spherical deposited droplets to be achieved and precise control over the geometry of the final manufactured structures. The model exactly conserves the volume of the deposited material and matches the solidification contact angle between consecutive deposited droplets, providing a precise geometrical description of the manufactured structures. The proposed model is validated using results of experiments performed with several materials for the deposited droplets and substrate, and droplet radii ranging from 40 to 800 μm. A good degree of agreement was found between theoretical and experimental results. A comparison with the well-established Gao&Sonin model shows that the proposed model represents a major improvement, and may be of great practical interest in industrial applications.

Keywords

• Drop-on-drop deposition
• Molten droplet
• Dropwise
• Solidification contact angle
• Columnar structures