Abstract: The low efficiency for electrohydrodynamic jet printing has become one of the major bottlenecks which hinders widespread industrial applications of the technique. To address the challenging issue, a novel micro-scale 3D printing with multi-nozzle driven by electric field of flat plate electrodes is proposed. The basic principle of the high-efficient micro-scale 3D printing is described. An device is developed for cost-effective manufacturing these arrayed nozzles. The effects and laws of the electric field distribution of the arrayed printhead, the height difference and inner diameter difference between the nozzles on the electric field strength are discussed by numerical simulation. The effects and laws of the printing parameters (applied voltage, air pressure, printing speed) on the printing accuracy (line width) and consistency is revealed by a series of experimental studies. Finally, combining the proposed new method and optimized process parameters, three transparent electrodes with area of 80 mm × 80 mm, and line width/ line spacing period 20μm/ 500μm are fabricated using single-nozzle nozzle, double-nozzle nozzle and triple-nozzle nozzle, the corresponding printing times are 86.1 min, 45.2 min and 29.1 min, respectively. The experimental results shows that the printing effectiveness can be great improved, As a result, the proposed micro-scale 3D printing with multi-nozzle driven by electric field of flat plate electrodes provides a new solution with industrial application prospect for cost-effective manufacturing the large-area microstructures.

Key words: flat plate electrodes, electric field drive, micro-scale 3D printing, multiple nozzle, consistency