Creating Surface Morphologies by Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing on the micron-scale allows for unprecedented control of surface morphologies. With the smallest feature sizes in the range of 50 nm, surface roughness in the order of 10 nm, and with no observable damage to the underlying substrate material, additive manufacturing is an ideal choice if the influence of surface topography as part of the morphology is to be studied. While the highest surface definition is achieved with polymer-based materials, first, promising steps towards additive manufacturing of metals on the micron-scale have been recently made. To reach as small as possible deviations between the designed structure and the manufactured one, dimensional accuracy is crucial. To reach high dimensional accuracy, the fabrication processes for polymeric as well as metallic materials are to be understood in detail via numerical simulations. In this chapter, we review the underlying physical principles, discuss the numerical models employed, and provide an overview over common materials.