Residual oscillation suppression via waveform optimization for stable electrohydrodynamic drop-on-demand printing

Electrohydrodynamic drop-on-demand (EHD DOD) printing is a promising additive manufacturing technique with both high resolution and good ink compatibility. However, it suffers from printing stability and uniformity due to the meniscus residual oscillation. Here we put forward an optimized waveform design by adding an additional voltage pulse when jetting stops and retracts to quickly eliminate the residual oscillation in EHD DOD printing. By utilizing a forced damped oscillator theoretical model, the characteristic duration time and demanded voltage value of the optimized waveform are determined. The correctness of theoretical result is proved by simulation and experiment. The proposed waveform design principle can almost completely eliminate the residual oscillation in EHD DOD printing. After optimization, the stable printing frequency achieved 1.92 times that of the unoptimized one, which promotes its application in high-resolution additive manufacturing process.