DissolvPCB: Fully Recyclable 3D-Printed Electronics with Liquid Metal Conductors and PVA Substrates
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arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866913965291864064 |
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| author | Yan, Zeyu Hong, SuHwan Hester, Josiah Cheng, Tingyu Peng, Huaishu |
| author_facet | Yan, Zeyu Hong, SuHwan Hester, Josiah Cheng, Tingyu Peng, Huaishu |
| contents | We introduce DissolvPCB, an electronic prototyping technique for fabricating fully recyclable printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) using affordable FDM 3D printing, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a water-soluble substrate and eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) as the conductive material. When obsolete, the PCBA can be easily recycled by immersing it in water: the PVA dissolves, the EGaIn re-forms into a liquid metal bead, and the electronic components are recovered. These materials can then be reused to fabricate a new PCBA.
We present the DissolvPCB workflow, characterize its design parameters, evaluate the performance of circuits produced with it, and quantify its environmental impact through a lifecycle assessment (LCA) comparing it to conventional CNC-milled FR-4 boards. We further develop a software plugin that automatically converts PCB design files into 3D-printable circuit substrate models. To demonstrate the capabilities of DissolvPCB, we fabricate and recycle three functional prototypes: a Bluetooth speaker featuring a double-sided PCB, a finger fidget toy with a 3D circuit topology, and a shape-changing gripper enabled by Joule-heat-driven 4D printing. The paper concludes with a discussion of current technical limitations and opportunities for future directions. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_22193 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | DissolvPCB: Fully Recyclable 3D-Printed Electronics with Liquid Metal Conductors and PVA Substrates Yan, Zeyu Hong, SuHwan Hester, Josiah Cheng, Tingyu Peng, Huaishu Human-Computer Interaction We introduce DissolvPCB, an electronic prototyping technique for fabricating fully recyclable printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) using affordable FDM 3D printing, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a water-soluble substrate and eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) as the conductive material. When obsolete, the PCBA can be easily recycled by immersing it in water: the PVA dissolves, the EGaIn re-forms into a liquid metal bead, and the electronic components are recovered. These materials can then be reused to fabricate a new PCBA. We present the DissolvPCB workflow, characterize its design parameters, evaluate the performance of circuits produced with it, and quantify its environmental impact through a lifecycle assessment (LCA) comparing it to conventional CNC-milled FR-4 boards. We further develop a software plugin that automatically converts PCB design files into 3D-printable circuit substrate models. To demonstrate the capabilities of DissolvPCB, we fabricate and recycle three functional prototypes: a Bluetooth speaker featuring a double-sided PCB, a finger fidget toy with a 3D circuit topology, and a shape-changing gripper enabled by Joule-heat-driven 4D printing. The paper concludes with a discussion of current technical limitations and opportunities for future directions. |
| title | DissolvPCB: Fully Recyclable 3D-Printed Electronics with Liquid Metal Conductors and PVA Substrates |
| topic | Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22193 |