Modeling the drying of ink-jet-printed structures and experimental verification

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Display Technology

Background:

• Ink-jet printing is crucial for fabricating polymer LED displays.
• Accurate modeling of the drying process is essential for optimizing pixel filling and performance.
• Existing models often require extensive input parameters, limiting practical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a practical numerical model for simulating the drying of ink-jet-printed polymer solutions in polymer LED displays.
• To extend existing models by reducing the number of required input parameters.
• To validate the model against experimental data from a pre-pilot ink-jet printing line.

Main Methods:

• Development of a numerical model for polymer solution drying.
• Incorporation of parameters such as viscosity increase rate and solute diffusion coefficient.
• Comparison of model predictions with experimental data from an ink-jet printing line.

Main Results:

• The model shows fair agreement with experimental data.
• It predicts polymer distribution within individual pixels.
• A trend was observed where increased viscosity rate reduces polymer transport from the pixel center.

Conclusions:

• The developed numerical model offers a practical approach to simulating ink-jet-printed polymer drying.
• The model's predictions are consistent with experimental observations.
• Understanding polymer transport during drying is key to optimizing polymer LED display fabrication.