Conductive Photopolymer Seems to be a reality.

Well, just this morning, I got an update from the CreoPop campaign that I pledged for, and while most of it was a "business as usual" update, they mentioned that they have made a breakthrough with their conductive material along with a Youtube demonstration of it working. I had previously thought that conductive photopolymer was a pipe dream, and the pursuit of it was one of the things that interested me in the project.

So, how is this working? The material they're using doesn't appear to be a metal powder mix, the conductivity doesn't look spectacular, but it doesn't look any near as bad as the current conductive filaments.

Can it be that they've figured out a way to make an inherently conductive polymer into a photopolymer?

That is incredible! Does it mention somewhere when it will be available for purchase?

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[scara3dprinter.wordpress.com]

Their site (CreoPop) estimates April 2015 for the ship date, but tend to take ship date estimates with a grain of salt. They have an option to pre-order it on their site for $4 per cartridge, they don't say exactly how much is in one but it mentions "Each ink cartridge can print a 14 meter line at 3mm diameter" which comes out to 660 cm³. Err, 0.659 liters if my math was right there. But half a liter isn't going to fit inside that pen, so my math is almost certainly not right.

That would work great for small motors as well as circuits. Just add magnets. Unless I read it wrong, the refills are only $4.00. I can imagine building a second nozzle and doing this in one print.

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[scara3dprinter.wordpress.com]

Seems like you could test this yourself by using powdered graphite/graphyne/colloidal silver/powdered copper/etc. as the 'pigment' in a non-pigmented photopolymer.

... I've used sub-micron sized 'silver-flakes' in heat-curable polyimide for connecting micron wires on sensors and for 'drawing' conducting traces ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Conductive UV cured resins have been around for quite some time. The carbon blacks types are mainly used for static protection. The one in the video looks pretty clear so it might be based on silver or copper since it's not outrageously expensive. I doubt if they will post a conductivity spec since it's made for arts and crafts vs printed electronics, but it will be easy enough to measure.