Metallization of 3D-Printed plastic sheets by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The metallisation of 3D printed plastic products can greatly simplify and reduce the cost ofmanufacturing some complex shaped products that have previously been made from metals or alloys.Magnetron sputtering metallisation of products has a number of advantages over the widely usedelectrochemical deposition method. Experiments have been carried out to deposit Cu coatings upto 10 μm thick on 3D printed sheets of PLA, ABS, PETG and HIPS plastics. It is shown that the150×150×2 mm ABS and HIPS sheets have sufficient heat resistance and do not deform as a resultof heating and residual stresses generated during the deposition of Cu coatings. The morphology andsurface roughness of the Cu coatings were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The adhesionof the coatings was evaluated according to ASTM D 3359 – 09. It is shown that magnetron sputteringcan be successfully used to metallise ABS and HIPS plastic products.