Data and power distribution via printed electronics in aerospace applications

New concepts for data and power distribution systems arise to revolutionize the landscape of manufacturing cable harnesses in all means of transportation. At the core of this new development is printed electronics. The focus within this study is to evaluate printing technologies on composite materials used in aerospace applications. As printing technology, the aerosol-jet system is utilized allowing a digital, non-contact and maskless printing process. The presented research covers two fundamental analyses: the evaluation of surface properties of composite materials as well as the morphology and electrical properties of printed tracks. Calculations of the surface free energy for composite materials based on measurements of contact angles lead to a value of 44 mN/m. The specific resistance of printed tracks with a width of about 500 μm and a height of at least 25 μm reaches a factor of four compared to bulk silver.