Client:
MPM Corp., Franklin, Massachusetts
As part of Cookson Electronics, MPM is a leading producer of commercial ink-jet printers and solder screen printers.
Task: Identify a transduction technology and develop a prototype transducer that would enable the jetting of solder in a new family of MPM printers.

Task:
Identify a transduction technology and develop a prototype transducer that would enable the jetting of solder in a new family of MPM printers.
MPM was developing a printer that would jet solder much as ink-jet printers do ink. Their goal was to facilitate the manufacture of micro-miniature electronic components. Technology was borrowed from U.S. Navy sonar to develop a print head transducer that would through its vibration break up a continuous solder stream into uniformly sized and spaced microscopic droplets at temperatures approaching 300°F. These droplets were then precisely guided by an electromagnetic field to an electronic substrate to form the pathways for a micro-miniature circuit. The prototype printer achieved 100% of the required performance for the continuous jetting of solder and approximately 80% of the required performance for jetting solder on-demand.

The Role of Main Associates:
Design and develop the prototype print head transducer
Main Associates derived the mechanical and acoustical requirements for the print head transducer. We identified the transduction technology and designed a prototype transducer to meet the requirements. We identified and supported a manufacturer in the production of the prototype transducers. We directed a university; well know for its active material research, in the identification and evaluation of a transducer material for the prototype that could perform continuously at solder temperatures. We forged an alliance between MPM and another manufacturer for the production of a final transducer/print head that could handle production quantities and solve the remaining problems with on-demand jetting.