title: Hydrophilic elastomers for microcontact printing of polar inks.
abstract: A moderately hydrophilic, thermoplastic elastomer (poly(ether-ester)) was investigated as a stamp material for microcontact printing of a polar ink: pentaerythritol-tetrakis-(3-mercaptopropionate). Stamps with a relief structure were produced from this polymer by hot embossing, and a comparison was made with conventional poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and oxygen-plasma-treated PDMS. It is shown that the hydrophilic stamps can be used for the repetitive printing (without re-inking) of at least 10 consecutive patterns, which preserve their etch resistance, and this in rather sharp contrast to conventional and oxygen plasma-treated PDMS stamps. It is argued that these enhanced printing characteristics of the hydrophilic stamps originate from an improved wetting and solubility of polar inks in the hydrophilic stamp.
authors.affiliation: Department of Polymer Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Helix HEO 0.26, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. D.C.Trimbach@TUE.nl
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Trimbach
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Hussein
authors.forename: Wim H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: de Jeu
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Decré
authors.forename: Dirk J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Broer
authors.forename: Cees W M
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Bastiaansen