Investigation of mechanical and optical properties of 3D printed materials serving as substrate for place and bend assembly

The place and bend assembly can be used for the integration of optical systems. Miniaturized setups can be realized using well-established 2D pick and place tools for the component assembly. Afterwards the 3D body and the optical path inside - even complex off-axis designs - can be realized by bending the substrate along preprocessed bending lines in the substrates. The combination of mechanical and optical properties of the substrate material are highly important for the integration and the intended operation. The bending process must not affect the shape of the substrate itself in an undesired way. The optical properties are relevant for the accurate operation. In turn the body parts must be sufficiently nontransparent in the entire range, stray light from surface scattering should be low and fluorescence must be absent. The mechanical and optical properties of materials for 3D printed substrates have been investigated. 3D printing offers favorable options for development, prototyping and small to medium volume production. 3D printing is characterized by low initial cost, availability and material selection. Several options for 3D printed material have been considered and investigated. Besides the material properties also the overall accuracy resulting from different process option for 3D printing are relevant for the future applications.