Thermally Elongated Thermoplastic Nozzles Unlock Micro-Scale Multimaterial Direct Ink Writing

Thermally Elongated Thermoplastic Nozzles Unlock Micro-Scale Multimaterial Direct Ink Writing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Thermally Elongated Thermoplastic Nozzles Unlock Micro-Scale Multimaterial Direct Ink Writing Zeyu Ma, Jue Wang, Renkun Wang, Jeonghoon Lee, Pokuang Zhou, Evan Zhang, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8564809/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In additive manufacturing, micron-scale nozzles are critical for direct ink writing (DIW) to regulate micro-interconnect structures in electronics and heterogeneous interfaces in biomedical devices. Existing techniques (glass capillary thermal forming, precision machining, and micromachining) struggle to fabricate complex core-shell or multilayer nozzles due to material incompatibility, limited geometric flexibility, or high costs. This work introduces a high-throughput strategy combining fused deposition modeling (FDM) and thermal stretching to fabricate core-shell nozzles with feature sizes that are reduced by ~5 times, achieving an inner diameter less than 170 μm. The extrusion process is enabled by the use of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) because of its suitability for thermal elongation at high speeds. The thermally elongated nozzles with long tips and small diameters are manipulated with a robotic arm using remote center of motion control, demonstrating the potential of the technology in minimally invasive surgery. This approach paves the way for miniaturized, multimaterial devices in electronics and precision medicine. Mechanical Engineering Polymer Science Materials Engineering Nozzle design direct ink writing thermoplastic core shell Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: The authors (Alex Chortos, Zeyu Ma, Jue Wang) have submitted a provisional patent on the topic of this manuscript. Alex Chortos is a scientific advisor for PolyC Plastics and Composites. Supplementary Files SupportingInformationResearchSquare.pdf Supporting Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8564809","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":572334633,"identity":"3454635d-2e61-4b53-9cb6-d0e5e72d9d38","order_by":0,"name":"Zeyu Ma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Taiyuan University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zeyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Ma","suffix":""},{"id":572334634,"identity":"be7ff369-2b2a-4bda-af3b-8fbfda1276fe","order_by":1,"name":"Jue Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Purdue University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jue","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":572334635,"identity":"b5627218-54f7-4694-914c-cc1ccefd1eb0","order_by":2,"name":"Renkun Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Purdue University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Renkun","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":572334636,"identity":"e71570c6-698c-494f-b4ed-7083a82caaff","order_by":3,"name":"Jeonghoon Lee","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Purdue University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jeonghoon","middleName":"","lastName":"Lee","suffix":""},{"id":572334637,"identity":"bac838a3-cf28-46da-95a0-d68b8cc00250","order_by":4,"name":"Pokuang Zhou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Purdue University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pokuang","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":572334638,"identity":"7eaec79b-935b-4961-9e34-f5331c6039e8","order_by":5,"name":"Evan Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The Harker School","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Evan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":572334639,"identity":"040e7704-6c9c-4ddb-94ea-1f41a7a9985e","order_by":6,"name":"Yu She","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Purdue University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yu","middleName":"","lastName":"She","suffix":""},{"id":572334640,"identity":"97c229cd-da19-495c-a411-bb9b0e1abdd9","order_by":7,"name":"Alex Chortos","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHgjFj2AnEKMFqEiygWQtBgeI1cLffvbg48ofNvbGt3vMPrxts2HgZ88xwKtF4kxesuGZhLTEbXfOGM+c25bGINnzBr8Whhs8ZpINCYcTzG7kGDPzth1mMLhBwBZ5qBZ74xlgLf8Z7AlpMYBqYdwgAdZygMFAgoAWwzM5xoYNaWmJM+4cK2accy6ZR+LMswK8WuSOnzF82GBjY88/u3kzw5syOzn+9uQNeLUggASE4iFSOZKWUTAKRsEoGAUYAABK0EJIZAi7uAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3976-5257","institution":"Purdue University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alex","middleName":"","lastName":"Chortos","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-10 01:03:55","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":true,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8564809/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8564809/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100382260,"identity":"2f4be8e9-9f0a-4e1b-a51f-9ee414acd35a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-16 10:41:53","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":825070,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20260109NozzlePullingManuscriptforResearchSquare.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8564809/v1_covered_ea6964ae-06ca-47a9-9974-a8240315adb9.pdf"},{"id":100366258,"identity":"ce64c1ca-45a0-4e7f-9c7c-c01090323324","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-16 07:56:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":875499,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupporting Information\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupportingInformationResearchSquare.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8564809/v1/181733b5e8f81133d4f86d71.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: The authors (Alex Chortos, Zeyu Ma, Jue Wang) have submitted a provisional patent on the topic of this manuscript. Alex Chortos is a scientific advisor for PolyC Plastics and Composites.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eThermally Elongated Thermoplastic Nozzles Unlock Micro-Scale Multimaterial Direct Ink Writing\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[{"identity":"8d73cea3-fca9-4dab-af75-c08b045c4638","identifier":"10.13039/100000001","name":"National Science Foundation","awardNumber":"2328262","order_by":0},{"identity":"732c1877-6905-4d24-a951-f8be8e1d6872","identifier":"10.13039/501100002412","name":"Xi’an Jiaotong University","awardNumber":"N/A","order_by":1}],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Purdue University West Lafayette","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Nozzle design, direct ink writing, thermoplastic, core shell","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8564809/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8564809/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn additive manufacturing, micron-scale nozzles are critical for direct ink writing (DIW) to regulate micro-interconnect structures in electronics and heterogeneous interfaces in biomedical devices. Existing techniques (glass capillary thermal forming, precision machining, and micromachining) struggle to fabricate complex core-shell or multilayer nozzles due to material incompatibility, limited geometric flexibility, or high costs. This work introduces a high-throughput strategy combining fused deposition modeling (FDM) and thermal stretching to fabricate core-shell nozzles with feature sizes that are reduced by ~5 times, achieving an inner diameter less than 170 μm. The extrusion process is enabled by the use of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) because of its suitability for thermal elongation at high speeds. The thermally elongated nozzles with long tips and small diameters are manipulated with a robotic arm using remote center of motion control, demonstrating the potential of the technology in minimally invasive surgery. This approach paves the way for miniaturized, multimaterial devices in electronics and precision medicine.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Thermally Elongated Thermoplastic Nozzles Unlock Micro-Scale Multimaterial Direct Ink Writing","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-13 03:42:41","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8564809/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"12a859fe-b878-44a7-9236-0ca101430b2b","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 13th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":60907551,"name":"Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":60907552,"name":"Polymer Science"},{"id":60907553,"name":"Materials Engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-13T03:42:41+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-13 03:42:41","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8564809","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8564809","identity":"rs-8564809","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}