Dynamic behavior of axially moving web in multi-span roll-to-roll microcontact printing system

This article presents theoretical dynamic analysis of a vibrating axially moving web of a multi-span / multi-roll microcontact printing system and experimental measurements of the system’s frequency response. A unique lab-scale microcontact printing machine with high-speed web handling capabilities is used. The axially moving web is modeled as a string and as a membrane. Then, numerical results of both models are compared with experimentally obtained response. The experiment is run for both case of constant axial speed and varying axial speed with time. Although both models are in good agreement with the experimental results, the values of frequencies obtained from the string model are found to be in closer agreement with those obtained from the experimental findings. It is found that increasing the web tension and decreasing the axial web speed increase the system’s frequency.