3D printing offers enormous potential for fabricating custom equipment for space and vacuum systems, but in order to do this at low costs, polymers are necessary. Historically, polymers have not been suitable for these applications because of outgassing, but if coated with a conformal, inorganic film introduced with atomic layer deposition (ALD), then outgassing can be reduced. Previous work on coating ALD layers showed promise with heavily outgassing carbon black containing 3D printed polymers. In this study, ALD aluminum oxide and a commercially available vacuum sealant resin were used to coat clear, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, and polypropylene. Characterization of the films included spectroscopic ellipsometry for thickness, microstructure analysis with scanning electron microscopy, chemical analysis with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and residual gas analysis to study relative change in outgassing. ALD-coated samples registered lower pressures than the resin-coated ones. The results showed that the ALD coatings could effectively inoculate unpigmented 3D printed plastics, which could be used in contamination-sensitive environments such as semiconductor processing systems and space environments.

中文翻译：

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涂有原子层沉积氧化铝的未着色3D打印聚合物的真空脱气特性

3D打印为制造用于空间和真空系统的定制设备提供了巨大的潜力，但是为了以低成本实现此目的，聚合物是必需的。从历史上看，由于脱气，聚合物不适合这些应用，但是如果涂上带有原子层沉积（ALD）的共形无机膜，则可以减少脱气。先前在涂层ALD层上的工作表明，将含3D打印聚合物的炭黑大量放气是有希望的。在这项研究中，ALD氧化铝和可商购的真空密封树脂用于涂覆透明的丙烯腈丁二烯苯乙烯，聚碳酸酯和聚丙烯。薄膜的表征包括用于厚度的光谱椭圆偏振法，扫描电子显微镜的显微结构分析，能量色散X射线光谱法进行化学分析，以及残留气体分析以研究除气的相对变化。ALD涂层样品的压力低于树脂涂层样品的压力。结果表明，ALD涂层可有效接种未着色的3D打印塑料，可用于对污染敏感的环境，例如半导体加工系统和太空环境。