Towards a compact and low-cost mesoscopic XY positioning system using 3D printing of conductive polymers

Technological advances in additive manufacturing have made it possible to exploit composite materials, such as carbon-doped filaments, synthesised for specific function with tailored properties. The integration of carbon fibres, with good electrical and thermal conductivity, within an insulating polylactic acid (PLA) matrix produces a conductive functional material. These properties allow to manufacture mesoscopic electrothermal actuators and more complex monolithic structures including them.A compact and monolithic 3D printable positioning system with built-in V-shaped actuators is proposed in this paper. Multi-physics coupling analysis are performed in ANSYS to validate the estimated performances of the actuator and the positioning system. Then, an experimental characterisation based on printed prototypes showed good performances close to those estimated. The prototype measures 92mm×92mm×2mm and has a working space of 10.75mm
²
. These early results allowed the implementation of a first closed-loop control strategy using a Smith predictor.