Development of a droplet-based manufacturing process for free-form fabrication

Droplet-Based Manufacturing processes are now widely used in many industrial applications, including spray forming and rapid prototyping. Application of these processes to freeform fabrication, however, has been greatly hampered by the lack of accurate control over droplet generation and droplet deposition. In order to overcome such shortcomings, a high-precision, uniform-droplet deposition process has been developed. This paper presents the design rationale for the process and its use to determine a key process parameter: the in-flight droplet liquid fraction.