Low Temperature Soldering of 3D Printed Conductive Polymer Contacts

In this work low-temperature soldering of 3D printed conductive polymer contacts is presented. Soldering is widely used method for making electrical joints. Here it is implemented for non-metal polymer material, manufactured by 3D printing and after soldered at low temperatures. Electrical contact resistivity is used as joint estimator, where influencing factors as surface roughness, surface wetting and melting temperature are evaluated. Two soldering materials are tested, first is SnPb low temperature solder and second is PLA conductive material, applied as molten solder filament. Results for joints contact resistivity are presented. 3D printing can replace some of typical soldering operations during conductive traces manufacturing for solderless assemblies.