Adhesion of polymers to electrodeposited copper for a new 3D printing technology for metal-polymer hybrid components

3D printing has significantly evolved in recent years. Initially, only plastics were used as materials for 3D printing, but technological advancement has enabled 3D printing with materials such as metals, ceramics and biomaterials. With the development of 3D printing, there emerged a need to create a printer for producing hybrid parts, such as metal-plastic, characterized by both the exceptional strength and durability of metal and the lightweight and insulating properties of plastics. The new technique of 3D printing involves layer-by-layer metal growth in the electroplating process, as well as extrusion of a photopolymer composition, followed by UV light curing on the surface of a copper layer. Prints from this new type of 3D printer must exhibit strong adhesive bonding to prevent damage to the printed model. Therefore, mechanical tests were conducted to examine the adhesion of prepared photopolymer compositions to copper sheet coated with electroplated metal and to regular copper sheet in order to compare the obtained values. Analyzing the test results, it can be concluded that the structure of electrodeposited copper significantly improves the adhesive bond strength.