Purpose: – This paper aims to find an optimal surface treatment of commonly used polymeric substrates for achieve the high adhesion of printed structures. For this reason, the investigation of substrates surfaces from different perspectives is presented in this paper. Design/methodology/approach: – The contact angle measurements as well as the roughness measurements were realised for the analysis of surface properties of investigated substrates. The impact of applied chemical agents for surface treatment onto the wettability is analysed for polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalene substrates. Findings: – The results prove the correlation among wettability, surface energy and work of adhesion with respect to the theoretical background. The surface treatment of polymeric substrates by chemical agents, such as acetone, toluene, ethanol, isopropyl and fluor silane polymer, has a significant impact onto the wettability of substrates which affects the final deposition process of nanoinks. Originality/value: – The main benefit of the surfaces’ investigation presented in this paper lays in surface modification by readily available chemical agents for optimising the deposition process nanoinks used in inkjet printing technology.

This paper investigates the influence of jet traverse speed on the surface integrity of 0.66 wt% Al₂O₃ nanoparticle reinforced metal matrix composite (MMC) generated by Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM). Surface morphology, surface topography, and surface roughness (SR) of the AWJ surface were analyzed. The machined surfaces of the nanocomposites were examined by laser confocal microscope and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Microhardness and elasticity modulus measurement by nanoindentation testing were also performed across thickness of the samples to see depth of the zone, affected by AWJ cutting. The result reveals that extent of grooving by abrasive particle and irregularity in AWJ machined surface increases as the traverse speed increased. Similarly, the rise in value of surface roughness parameters with traverse speed was also seen. In addition, nanoindentation testing represents the lower hardness and elastic modulus due to softening occurs in AWJ surface.

Purpose: This paper aims to find the optimal deposition conditions for achieving the homogenous structure of the silver layers onto three types of polymeric substrates as well as on the rigid substrates. For this reason, the detailed investigation of the silver-based layers deposited at different technological conditions by microscopic methods is presented in this paper. Design/methodology/approach: The special test pattern has been designed and deposited at different substrate temperatures by using two types of generally available silver-based nano-inks. Cross-sections and 3D profiles of the deposited silver layers have been profoundly analysed by using the optical profiler Sensofar S Neox on the generally used polymeric (PI, PET and PEN) and rigid substrates (951 and 9K7 LTCC, glass and alumina). Findings: The results prove the strong correlation between the substrate temperature during the deposition process and the final shape of the created structure which has the a direct impact on the layers’ homogeneity. The results also prove the theory of the coffee ring effect creation in the inkjet printing technology. Originality/value: The main benefit of this paper lies in the possibility of the homogeneity achievement of the deposited silver-based layers on the several polymeric and rigid substrates by managing the temperature during the deposition. The paper also offers the comparative study of nano-inks’ behaviour on several polymeric and rigid substrates.