Prof Lazarus uses flash lamps to make conductive 3D printed thermoplastic structures

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is a cheap and widely used 3D printing technology, but the conductive thermoplastic filaments used to print electronics in FFF have very high resistivity compared with other technologies.  In our work, we have developed a novel technique to use a flash of high energy white light from a Pulseforge system to ablate away thermoplastic from the surface of conductive filaments to leave behind a metal rich, highly conductive surface layer. Using this approach, we have demonstrated an increase in conductivity by up to two orders of magnitude.  Building on this technique, we have also shown that this flash ablation technique can be used to accelerate electroless plating of metals onto 3D printed parts without reducing adhesion to the part.