Date of Award

12-2015

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Chemical and Paper Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Paul D. Fleming III

Second Advisor

Dr. Alexandra Pekarovicova

Third Advisor

Dr. Veronika Husovska

Keywords

Printed electron, soy polymer, conductive inks, gravure printing, acrylic resins

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Today, the majority of the commercially available conductive inks are formulated using expensive metallic particles, such as silver and gold. Most of the inks use volatile solvents in the formulation, which are hazardous to the environment as emission of VOCs is the major concern. In the case of water-based inks, usually petroleum-based acrylic polymers are used. Apart from being nonrenewable raw materials, acrylic polymers are carcinogenic in nature. Also, acrylic polymers are used in a variety of applications, such as the automotive, medical device, paint, and adhesive industries. Often times, the ink industry has to compete with other industries for acrylic polymers, making it an expensive and time consuming process. Hence, the major challenge faced by the PE industry is to formulate low-cost, renewable, easily available alternative inks. This has been the motivation behind this work to formulate the alternative water-based resistive inks for the gravure printing process. Blends of graphene and conductive carbon fillers were used to replace the expensive silver. Simultaneously, a study was conducted to determine the potential of soy polymers as resin system to replace acrylic resins. This will help to achieve the formulation of a truly environmentally friendly ink, while eliminating emission of VOCs.

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