Effects of mechanical properties of polymer on ceramic-polymer composite thick films fabricated by aerosol deposition

Two types of ceramic-polymer composite thick films were deposited on Cu substrates by an aerosol deposition process, and their properties were investigated to fabricate optimized ceramic-based polymer composite thick films for application onto integrated substrates with the advantage of plasticity. When polymers with different mechanical properties, such as polyimide (PI) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), are used as starting powders together with α-Al(2)O(3) powder, two types of composite films are formed with different characteristics - surface morphologies, deposition rates, and crystallite size of α-Al(2)O(3). Through the results of micro-Vickers hardness testing, it was confirmed that the mechanical properties of the polymer itself are associated with the performances of the ceramic-polymer composite films. To support and explain these results, the microstructures of the two types of polymer powders were observed after planetary milling and an additional modeling test was carried out. As a result, we could conclude that the PMMA powder is distorted by the impact of the Al(2)O(3) powder, so that the resulting Al(2)O(3)-PMMA composite film had a very small amount of PMMA and a low deposition rate. In contrast, when using PI powder, the Al(2)O(3)-PI composite film had a high deposition rate due to the cracking of PI particles. Consequently, it was revealed that the mechanical properties of polymers have a considerable effect on the properties of the resulting ceramic-polymer composite thick films.