Next gen sonic bonding and 3D printing can replace soldering

Its talking about nano-rods, this probably means the surfaces need to be optically flat to ensure proper bonding, which is going to limit the application. The gallium and indium form a euctectic system I guess which is molten at room temperature, then gradually forms intermetallics as atoms from the cores of the rods diffuse into the liquid. Be interesting to see the phase diagrams for this system.
Since gallium melts at 30C or so anyway, this technology will probably require fridge storage and the raw materials may have a short shelf life or special transportation requirements.
 
"... replacing a good solder joint..."
I have never seen / heard one of those! 😉

All solder is a non conductive toxic mess when compared to high purity copper or silver.
The best way to join to components / conductors is a crimp which is then covered / sealed with a blob of hot melt glue or circuit board potting material to damp vibrations and form an air tight seal.
But this method is time consuming and usually only used in ultra high end point to point wiring / tube electronics... Of course patient DIY guys can use it to great effect.
 
Typical solder joint would be more like 10 microohms, if say the joint's area is a few mm^2 and the distance from resistor to PCB trace is 0.2mm through the solder.
1cm of 1mm wide PCB trace on a 1oz board is about 5 milliohms, much more resistance than the solder joint, still much less than 0.05 ohms...

Crimping (done correctly) makes a gas tight weld and doesn't need special protection in normal situations, its already air tight. Hot melt glue tends to melt at the temperatures encountered in electronics enclosures and make a horrible sticky mess if not contained (for instance inside heat-shrink tubing).
 
Let us say you solder a 10k resistor somewhere in an amp. A solder joint will add 0.05 ohms to the 10k. A super duper hi end connection is 0.005 ohms. What do you expect the difference in sound to be, and why. Please explain your reasoning.

Jan
Having built a bunch of electronics using PCB's and compared various iterations using 0.6mm solid silver wire, crimped / sealed as described, the hard wired versions consistently were voted by friends and family as sounding more life like or superior in various ways.
For a repeatable test that anyone can do in their own systems... Simply swap your interconnects and / or speaker cables for runs of your favourite solder... OMG, its bad, really really bad!
So adding toxic / poor conductors in between very good components is never a good thing... That is my reasoning. 😉
 
Having built a bunch of electronics using PCB's and compared various iterations using 0.6mm solid silver wire, crimped / sealed as described, the hard wired versions consistently were voted by friends and family as sounding more life like or superior in various ways.
For a repeatable test that anyone can do in their own systems... Simply swap your interconnects and / or speaker cables for runs of your favourite solder... OMG, its bad, really really bad!
So adding toxic / poor conductors in between very good components is never a good thing... That is my reasoning. 😉
As expected. Sigh.

Jan
 
  • Like
Reactions: jean-paul
Hot melt glue will release after a few weeks from the moisture in the air. Is best left to holiday craft projects at the kid’s school.

There’s actual electronic potting compound that would be much better.

It would be very cool to be able and 3D print an entire device, components and all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hydrogen Alex
I've used both hot melt glue and circuit board potting material (its messy though!) compound and both work great... As I said in post 6 - "The best way to join to components / conductors is a crimp which is then covered / sealed with a blob of hot melt glue or circuit board potting material to damp vibrations and form an air tight seal."
 
@ Phase, There are 3 D printers that routinely mix metals with polymers and can build complex electronics... $$$ Cost is still way to high, but its reducing fast... Maybe within 5 years or so the high end guys will be able to use it from "Simulations to Production" (SiP) manufacturing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: phase
There is a smell of snake oil hanging around.
Yea Tarzan, you really are on the cutting edge of investigative journalism... The 3 D printing, materials science, carbon / graphene / nano tech and molecular bonding sectors are all scams.... Go Tarzan you carry on leading the charge, phew humanity is safe as long as guys with your attitude are around to save us from "snake oil"... 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣