j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

The rheological behaviors of screen-printing pastes

Hung-Wen Lin a , Chang-Pin Chang b , Wen-Hwa Hwu b , Ming-Der Ger b,∗

a Graduate School of Defense Science, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University,
Ta-His, Tao-Yuan 33502, Taiwan, ROC
b Department of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology,

National Defense University, Ta-His, Tao-Yuan 33502, Taiwan, ROC

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Typically, the printing paste consists of vehicles and inorganic powders, in which vehicles
Received 21 March 2007 refer to solvent, resin and additives and inorganic powders refer to functional powders and
Received in revised form 3 May 2007 glass powders. A variety of functional pastes are prepared depending on printing needs,
Accepted 17 June 2007 while rheological behaviors such as the paste liquidity, thixotropy, and viscoelastic prop-
erties will influence printing quality. This study is designed to measure the yield stress,
thixotropy, and viscosity at different shear rates of commercially available screen-printing
Keywords: pastes and self-prepared pastes by using a rheometer. In addition, it dynamically measures
Rheology rheological properties such as viscoelastic. This study also involves the discussion over the
Screen-printing viscosity change of commercially available pastes at various shear rates to acquire the asso-
Paste ciation between paste liquidity and printing. Also, with the preparation of vehicles and
pastes, the study is intended to observe the impact of various fillers on paste rheological
behaviors in a steady-state and dynamic rheological test, offering a reference for selection
of solution during paste preparation and using the effects of binders and fillers on the sys-
tem’s rheology to control the conditions, e.g. viscosity, thixotropy and viscoelasticity, for
preparation of pastes that fit screen-printing requirements.
© 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction printing quality of commercially available pastes and self-

During current semiconductor processes, screen-printing is
still the major printing approach for the thick film process.
During the plasma display panel (PDP) process, for example,
the screen-printing process includes the formation of auxil-
iary electrode and dielectric on the upper substrate and the
formation of electrode, rib and fluorescence. Therefore, most
of the problems arising from the PDP process will be solved
if we can suitably control screen-printing technology. Apart
from the printer parameters and screen production, rheo-
logical behaviors of printing pastes will have direct impacts
upon the quality of high-precision screen-printing. For this
reason, rheological behaviors are relatively important for the
developed pastes. Typically, the printing paste consists of
vehicles and inorganic powders, in which vehicles refer to
solvent, resin and additives and inorganic powder refer to
functional powders and glass powders. A variety of functional
pastes are prepared depending on printing needs, while rhe-
ological behaviors such as the paste liquidity, thixotropy, and
viscoelasticity will influence printing quality.
During the screen-printing process, pastes will be run at
various shear rates during the several-step process. The max-
imum shear rate for ordinary printing screens may reach
1000 s−1 when the paste is penetrating screen mesh. Hence, to
understand the printing ability of the paste, we need to discuss
rheological properties at high shear rate.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mdger@ccit.edu.tw (M.-D. Ger).
0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.06.067
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291 285

Normal liquids can be divided into Newtonian liquids and of the silica surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and pre-
non-Newtonian liquids. A flow curve is a straight line with vents formation of a secondary structure (Jesionowski and
a fixed slope that passes the origin for Newtonian liquids. Krysztafkiewicz, 2001; Ismail et al., 2001). However, the kind
Based on the relation between shear rates and shear stress, and amount of the employed silane have detrimental effect
non-Newtonian liquids can be further subdivided into pseu- on the dispersion degree.
doplastic liquids, dilatant liquids and plastic liquids. Printing There is a wide range of studies on rheological properties of
pastes are always characterized as plastic liquids; that is, liquids, however, few of which involve screen-printing appli-
pastes would flow as long as the imposed stress exceeds cations (Karls, 1996; Kalleder et al., 1997; Burnside et al., 2000;
a specific threshold. The threshold is known as the yield Sanson et al., 2006). In addition to the discussion over rheolog-
stress. The stress exceeding the threshold will be reduced ical properties and screen-printing properties of commercially
as the strain rate increases, because entanglement between available pastes, the study also prepares a vehicle system with
macromolecules in the paste is released subject to the stress, different fillers to discuss the impact of several factors (e.g. dif-
which results in decreasing of viscosity (Rosu et al., 1999). The ferent solvents, contents of binders, and surface treatment of
apparent viscosity of polymer will decrease as the shear rate fillers) on rheological properties of pastes. Besides, the steady-
increases. This can be attributed to the polymer chain pulled state and dynamical rheological tests are performed with a
apart to be arranged in straight chain when the polymer is rheometer to identify the optimal conditions for the impact of
in shear flows. If the shear rate increases, the viscosity will paste rheological properties.
decrease accordingly. When the shear rate is extremely small,
the viscosity curve will turn flat, which is closer to that of
Newtonian liquid.
2. Experimental
To improve rheological properties of liquids, it is necessary
to add additives such as surface-active agents, dispers- All samples shown in Table 1 are commercially available
ing agents, or adhesion promoters according to demands pastes used in this experiment. The self-prepared paste was
to acquire well-dispersed pastes (Mignard et al., 1995; prepared by mixing filler (dielectric powders and SiO2 filler
Blawzdziewicz et al., 2000; Sjoberg et al., 1999; Berni et al., 2002; powders, with or without surface treatment, the surfactant
Li and Kwak, 2003; Tan et al., 2003; Kunieda et al., 2004; Zhi-Guo was 3-glycidoxy-propyltrimethoxy-silane, 3 wt.%) with two
and Hong, 2005; Bais et al., 2005). Different viscoelastic char- organic carriers (␣-terpineol obtained from Fluka and diethy-
acteristics of liquidity also show different physical properties. lene glycol monobutyl ether acetate from TEDIA) and a soluble
The proper operations of the liquids are obtained when the binder (ethyl cellulose from Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.).
viscoelastic property is carefully managed (Otaigbe et al., 1999; Vehicles (ethyl cellulose, EC/solvent) are prepared first.
Saak et al., 2001; Nachbaur et al., 2001). However, the mea- Then, the filler at weight ratio of 50% is added into the vehicle
surement of viscoelastic property is meaningful only when systems, separately. The colloidal suspensions are processed
the material is within the linear viscoelastic range. with full agitation, followed by dispersion of these powders
This experiment uses dielectric powders as the filler. The with a three-roller mill (EXAKT E50, Germany) to generate
powders consist of glass powders such as SiO2 , Al2 O3 , and required pastes. Rheological measurements were performed
B2 O3 , in which SiO2 is the major content with average particle using a dynamic and steady shear rheometer (RS600 model
size of 3 ␮m. For comparing the effect of mixed components from Haake, with cone and plate C35/1 sensors, for mea-
and single component on vehicles, pure SiO2 powder with surement at 25 ◦ C). The yield stress was produced by stress
average particle size of 3 ␮m was also used as the filler. The ramp technique. This direct method was carried out using the
surfaces of solid particles are usually treated with different same rheometer with a stress-controlled mode. In a ramp test,
techniques. The purpose of surface treatment on the filler the shear stress is linearly increased at a constant rate from
is to improve the physical and chemical properties of sur-
face, enhance the compatibility of the filler with substrates
such as organic polymers and resins and the dispersion in the
Table 1 – The type and its application of commercial
organic materials for elevated comprehensive material func-
screen-printing paste
tions. To enhance the interfacial adhesion, surface treatment
Item Type Purpose
of filler particles with coupling agents is one of the useful
methods. The coupling agent, a kind of surface treatment 1 B-BUS Electrode (black silver)
agent with bifunctional groups, can be used to enhance the 2 W-BUS Electrode (white silver)
combination effect of organic polymers and inorganic mineral 3 B-BUS-TR Electrode (black silver)
4 B-BUS-TR Electrode (white silver)
fillers, thereby avoiding cracks and clearance between fillers
5 BS Black stripe
and substrates (Ray et al., 2003; Sae-Oui et al., 2004; Sun et al.,
6 Dielectric-1 Dielectric D1 layer
2006). It has also been reported that the coating of particles 7 Dielectric-2 Dielectric D2/D3 layer
with silane-coupling agent not only contributes to a better 8 Address Data electrode
interfacial adherence but also improves dispersion (Lee and 9 Dielectric-O Dielectric
Yang, 1998; Jesionowski and Krysztafkiewicz, 2001; Ismail et 10 W-Rib White barrier rib
al., 2001). The adsorbed organic layer of the silane-coupling 11 B-Rib Black barrier rib
12 Phosphor-R Red phosphor
agent could render the proper steric stabilization between the
13 Phosphor-G Green phosphor
neighboring particles (Lee and Yang, 1998). The surface modifi- 14 Phosphor-B Blue phosphor
cation of silicas using silane-coupling agent induces a change
286 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291

zero to a stress well above the yield stress and the resulting
shear strain versus shear stress curve is recorded. In general,
when the applied stress is below yield stress, the strain is still
maintained at zero, so that the sample will not flow (solid-
like). When the stress is greater than the yield stress, the
material starts to flow (liquid-like) and the strain rise indef-
initely. The yield stress is, thus, determined by extrapolating
the two straight lines corresponding to solid-like and liquid-
like behaviors. The intersection of the two lines represents the
yield point.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Experiment result of commercially available
pastes
Screen-printing process can be divided into the following
steps: pastes printed on the substrate plate through the open-
ing of the screen mesh; snap off due to the screen mesh
gradually separating from the substrate plate by the screen
tension; and paste surface leveling after removal of the screen
plate. When the paste is penetrating the opening of the screen
mesh, it is subjected to the maximum shear rate. On Mesh
325, for instance, the paste is subject to a shear rate up to
980 s−1 . The impact on the quality of screen-printing pastes
should be correlated to the viscosity at high shear rates. Typ-
ically, prior to screen-printing, the viscosity for the paste at
low shear rates tested with a viscometer is only a reference for
determining if there is any change in paste properties, without
direct correlation with printing characteristics.
From Table 2, it is obvious that the paste viscosity and
its printing characteristics can be distinguished into three
groups at a high shear rate of 1000 s−1 . Group 1: =1000
˙ > 3 Pa s,
e.g. photosensitive pastes; Group 2: 2.5 Pa s > =1000
˙ > 1.0 Pa s,
including rib and dielectric pastes (D1, D2, D3); and Group
3: =1000
˙ < 1 Pa s, e.g. R, G, B fluorescence pastes. The phe-
nomena observed from screen-printing pastes are identical
to those reported from literature that the viscosity of the ink
Table 2 – The viscosities (Pa s) of commercial
screen-printing paste under different shear rates
Type →0
˙ =10
˙ =100
˙ =500
˙ =1000
˙
throughout the screen-printing process influences the effi-
ciency of the deposition process and the film’s quality (Sanson
et al., 2006). The photosensitive paste has excessively high
viscosity at high shear rates, leading to uneasy through print-
ing, difficult snap off, or even adhesion, while the viscosity
will be extremely low when the fluorescence paste is at high
shear rates, resulting in smudging. The rib layer and dielectric
paste, whose viscosity values at a high shear rate of 1000 s−1
lie between 1.0 and 2.5 Pa s, have the best printing quality.
Compared with the other two groups of pastes, the most
Group 1 pastes have a lower viscosity than those of other
two groups at a low shear rate, while their viscosities at high
shear rates, which is directly affecting the screen-printing
quality, are excessively high, resulting in difficult snap off.
Such rheological behavior should be attributed to more
complex components of photosensitive pastes than those
of non-photosensitive pastes. The vehicle used in photo-
sensitive paste contains a large amount of monomers and
few initiators, in addition to resins and solvents. For the
fluorescence paste, the viscosity is much lower at high shear
rates despite the viscosity is higher when the fluorescence
paste is at lower shear rates, leading to smudging. The rhe-
ological behaviors for the fluorescence paste are suggested
to be related to its components. To avoid residual organic
substances leaving the fluorescence layer that will affect its
luminous efficiency, the amount of additives added might
be reduced. As a result, the viscosity is lower at higher shear
rates. It is obvious that the rheological properties of pastes
are important in obtaining a good printing quality result.
However, many factors such as filler, resin, the solvent system,
solid content will influence the dispersion degree of particles
in the paste, resulting in different rheological behaviors.
Thus, it is our purpose in this study to elucidate the effects
of the main components on the processing properties of the
paste.
3.2. Steady-state experiment result
In a steady-state rheological test, the viscosity curve and the
thixotropy of the flow curve are obtained by controlling shear
rates (CR) and the yield stress is obtained by controlling the
shear stress (CS). Based on these results, the impacts of differ-
ent fillers on the system’s viscosity, thixotropy and yield stress
are discussed.

B-BUS 23 21 8.1 4.4 3.0 3.2.1. Influence of fillers on pastes

B-BUS (undiluted) 123 50 15 7.3 5.2 Two solvents used in this study are ␣-terpineol and BCA and
W-BUS 28 16.6 13 8.0 6.4 ethyl cellulose (EC) is chosen as the binder. EC is commonly
B-BUS-TR 12 10.6 9.8 9.1 7.8 used as an organic binder and rheological modifier in paste
W-BUS-TR 153 17.9 11.6 8.9 7.5 industry and ␣-terpineol and BCA are reported having same
BS 103 45 11 4.2 2.9 solvent power on EC owing to their similar solubility param-
Dielectric-1 48 34 16.8 4.4 1.6 eter values (Hsu and Jean, 2002). However, our result shows
Dielectric-2 109 43.7 14 4.9 2.2 that the behaviors of polymer solutions of EC in terpineol
Address 641 309 32 4.4 1.0
and in BCA are quite different as shown in Fig. 1. The viscos-
Dielectric-OG 80 55 18 3.8 1.0
ity of EC/␣-terpineol solution decreases with the increasing
W-Rib 69 40 15 4.2 1.8
B-Rib 23 20 9.7 4.9 2.5 shear rate, while the viscosity of EC/BCA solution is indepen-
dent of shear rate. It indicates that EC/␣-terpineol solution
PHOSPHOR-R 56 36 17 4.4 0.96
shows the characteristic of a non-Newtonian fluid and EC/BCA
PHOSPHOR-G 97 43 17 4.9 0.92
PHOSPHOR-B 80 55 20 5.1 0.91
solution is a Newtonian fluid in the shear rate investigated.
These results are inconsistent with those reported by Hsu and
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291
Fig. 1 – The viscosity vs. shear rate curves for vehicle
systems prepared with EC (6 wt.%) and two different
solvents.
Jean (Hsu and Jean, 2002). They suggested that no significant
difference in pseudoplasticity is observed between polymer
solutions of EC/␣-terpineol and EC/BCA and no distinct differ-
ence in solution quality between ␣-terpineol and BCA to EC
is observed. This might be ascribed to the concentration and
average molecular weight of EC used in their work is different
with ours. It is also seen from Fig. 1 that the viscosity of EC/␣-
terpineol solution is higher than that of EC/BCA solution. This
can be explained as that the viscosity of pure ␣-terpineol is
much higher than that of pure BCA.
Figs. 2 and 3 show the viscosity versus shear rate curves for
the vehicles which fill dielectric powders, SiO2 and surface-
treated SiO2 in terpineol and BCA, respectively. All of the
recipes have filler contents of 50 wt.% (with average particle
size of 3 ␮m) and EC contents of 6 wt.%. From Figs. 2 and 3, it is
Fig. 2 – The viscosity vs. shear rate curves for
terpineol-based paste systems prepared with different
fillers: () untreated SiO2 ; () SiO2 treated with silane at a
concentration of 3 wt.%; and (䊉) dielectric.
287
Fig. 3 – The viscosity vs. shear rate curves for BCA-based
paste systems prepared with different fillers: () untreated
SiO2 ; (䊉) SiO2 treated with silane at a concentration of
3 wt.%; and () dielectric.
evident that all pastes show shear thinning behavior, indicat-
ing the presence of a weakly attractive network. The pastes
with surface-untreated SiO2 powders have the highest vis-
cosities for both solvent systems. Since SiO2 in the vehicle
which has less compatibility with the binder acts as a “stress
cluster”, there exists a extensive friction between the binder
and filler under the shearing flow, decreasing the liquidity and
yielding a higher viscosity value. It is not surprising that their
viscosities are much higher than those containing dielectric
powders in which SiO2 is a part of it. It is also clear from
these figures that coupling agent has tremendous influence on
the viscosity of SiO2 -filled pastes. The viscosity with the cou-
pling agent-treated SiO2 drops significantly at low shear rate.
It indicates that a better wetting between solvent and pow-
ders is obtained if the surface of SiO2 is treated with silane.
However, the effect of coupling agent on viscosity is minor
as the shear rate increases. The surface modification of fillers
changes the surface properties of fillers, and as a consequence,
it plays an important role on the viscosity. Since silane usu-
ally presents two different functional groups on its structure,
a lyophilic polar group is capable of anchoring the polar end
of the molecules onto the particle surface, while the adsorbed
molecules stretch the lyophobic part into the liquid medium.
Due to the surface modification of SiO2 with silane-coupling
agents, the compatibility between surface-treated SiO2 fillers
and organic vehicle will be enhanced tremendously. There is
less friction between the sheared binder and filler, so they will
have a lower viscosity value. On the other hand, dispersants
are generally used to promote the dispersion of the colloidal
particle suspensions. The suspensions with dispersant show
that their viscosities at a given shear rate are lower than those
without dispersant, if the dispersant has the dispersion effec-
tiveness. After the dispersant is adsorbed onto the surfaces
of the particles, it might provide a steric stabilization or an
electrostatic stabilization effect, and thus yielding a colloidally
stable suspension (Tseng and Chen, 2003; Kamibayashi et al.,
288 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291

Fig. 4 – The relative viscosity vs. shear rate curves for

terpineol-based paste systems prepared with different Fig. 6 – The flow curves of terpineol-based paste systems
fillers: () untreated SiO2 ; (䊉) SiO2 treated with silane at a prepared with different fillers: () SiO2 treated with silane
concentration of 3 wt.%; and () dielectric. at a concentration of 3 wt.%; (䊉) untreated SiO2 ; and ()
dielectric.

2005; Zurcher and Graule, 2005). As indicated in literature (Lee

and Yang, 1998; Jesionowski and Krysztafkiewicz, 2001; Ismail
et al., 2001), silane can act as a dispersant. The adsorbed
silane will increase the distance between particles, leading to a
steric stabilization effect or lowering of the attractive potential
energy due to long-range van der Waals forces. The stability of
the dispersion is thus achieved. The dispersions prepared with
BCA as the solvent show a similar trend. Since the viscosity
values are 39 mPa s for pure ␣-terpineol and 3.6 mPa s for BCA,
the viscosities of pastes prepared with ␣-terpineol are much
higher than those prepared with BCA. A relative viscosity ratio
of paste to EC/solvent at a shear rate of 100 s−1 is thus used
for comparison. Their corresponding relative viscosities ver-
sus shear rates are plotted in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. Since

Fig. 7 – The flow curves of BCA-based paste systems

prepared with different fillers: () SiO2 treated with silane
at a concentration of 3 wt.%; (䊉) untreated SiO2 ; and ()
dielectric.

the viscosity of a concentrated colloidal dispersion strongly

Fig. 5 – The relative viscosity vs. shear rate curves for
BCA-based paste systems prepared with different fillers: ()
untreated SiO2 ; (䊉) SiO2 treated with silane at a
concentration of 3 wt.%; and () dielectric.
depends on the interactions between the particles, the lower
the viscosity the lower the interactions (Zurcher and Graule,
2005). It means that the lower the viscosity the better the
dispersion. Our viscosity results show that the poor powder
dispersion is obtained when the pastes use BCA as the sol-
vent. The poor powder dispersion might be ascribed to that
SiO2 has many hydroxyl groups on its surface; a poor wetting
resulted if the solvent used is too hydrophobic. Since BCA is
more hydrophobic than ␣-terpineol, it leads to a poor wetting
between SiO2 and BCA which results in a higher viscosity.
Figs. 6 and 7 show the relationship between shear stress
and shear rate for the vehicle that fills dielectric powders, SiO2
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291
Table 3 – Yield stress values (Pa) of pastes with different
EC contents
EC
6 wt.% 8 wt.%
Terpineol + dielectric 0.1 24.1
Terpineol + treated SiO2 18.3 29.4
Terpineol + SiO2 6.4 33.8
BCA + dielectric 5.7 5.2
BCA + treated SiO2 6.5 10.0
BCA + SiO2 31.3 32.5
and surface-treated SiO2 in terpineol and BCA, respectively.
All the samples examined exhibit their rheological behaviors
that could be represented by the power law with flow index
value less than 1. The plots of shear stress versus shear rate
for the pastes use BCA as the solvent and do not pass through
the origin. But it seems that those dispersed in terpineol
exhibit typical pseudoplastic behaviors with the curves pass-
ing apparently through the origin. However, the yield stresses
do exist in these terpineol systems as shown in Table 3. It
indicates that these pastes are more accurately described as
being plastic rather than pseudoplastic fluids. For the terpi-
neol systems, all the pastes show that their descending shear
stress/strain rate rheograms have lower shear stress values at
each shear rate than the ascending one. This indicates that
a breakdown of structure cannot be reformed immediately
when the stress is reduced or removed. It indicates that these
pastes are thixotropic in nature. Among these three pastes,
the one containing untreated SiO2 powder is with the high-
est thixotropy, the paste with treated SiO2 is the next, and the
paste with dielectric powder is least in thixotropy. The degree
of thixotropy is judged from the area between the up and
down curves. In contrast, all pastes used BCA as the solvent
show that the descending and ascending shear stress/strain
rate rheograms are superimposed over the entire shear rates
examined. This result implies that these systems lack any
thixotropic characteristic. The possible reason for this might
be ascribed to that the system behavior, no matter which type
of filler is used, prepared at an EC concentration of 6% in BCA
solvent, change from liquid-like to elastic solid with the act of
shear stress on it. For an elastomer, the broken structure will
be recovered instantly after the shear stress is removed. Thus,
they will not exhibit any thixotropic behavior.
3.2.2. Experiment result of yield stress
Table 3 shows the yield stress values versus EC concentration
for both paste systems with either terpineol or BCA used as the
solvent. According to the table, for the terpineol system, yield
stress increases with the increase in EC concentration. This is
because EC coils in the terpineol move independently even if
the EC concentration is up to 10% as discussed in next section.
EC may fully stretch its molecule that provides more chances
to interact with the fillers and forms a weakly network struc-
ture. Therefore, it needs more energy to break the network and
yields a higher yield stress as the EC content increases. Com-
paring yield stress values and thixotropy results, it is obvious
that these two properties are related to each other. The paste
having higher yield stress also shows the greater thixotropy
it has. As the power required for damage of the structure
289
is larger, the time needed to reform its structure should be
longer, it leads to a more significant thixotropic behavior.
For pastes prepared with BCA, it shows a different trend
that the increment of the EC content does not significantly
10 wt.% increase the yield stress. EC agglomerates in BCA when its
concentration exceeds 6%. Two effects occur as the EC concen-
52.9
35.8
tration increases. The agglomeration of EC should enhance the
91.0 yield stress value, while the decrease of powder content will
15.3 lower the yield stress at the same time. These two opposed
28.3 effects almost cancel with each other; thus, EC concentration
32.1 effect on yield stress is insignificant in BCA system.
3.3. Dynamic experiment results
Frequency sweep information can be used to characterize dis-
persion. To compare the behaviors of the cellulose chain in
terpineol and in BCA, therefore, frequency sweep was per-
formed to determine the values of shear storage modulus (G )
and loss modulus (G ) over the frequency range from 1 to 10 Hz
for both EC/terpineol and EC/BCA polymer solution systems
prepared with various EC contents. Fig. 8 shows the plot of G ,
G versus frequency for EC in terpineol. The magnitudes of G
are greater than those of G for both EC concentrations stud-
ied. The loss tangent (tan ı), defined as the ratio of G to G ,
is high at low frequencies, and decreases at higher frequen-
cies. When compared at the same frequency, it is found that
the value of tan ı decreases with the increasing EC concentra-
tion. This behavior is an indication of a dilute solution that the
polymer coils in the solution are moving independently.
The plot of G , G versus frequency for EC at two differ-
ent concentrations in BCA is shown in Fig. 9. The G and G
curves intersect at the middle of the frequency range at EC
concentration of 6%. This result indicates that an entangle-
ment network is formed for EC at concentration of 6%. The
behavior that the relative viscosity of EC/BCA system is higher
than that of EC/terpineol solution at EC concentration of 6%
could be explained in terms of this result. When the entan-
glement of neighboring polymers increases, it leads to an
Fig. 8 – Plot of G , G vs. frequency for EC/terpineol
solutions containing different concentrations of EC: (, 䊉)
G and G for 10 wt.% EC in terpineol; (, ) G and G for
6 wt.% EC in terpineol.
290 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 7 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 284–291
Fig. 9 – Plot of G , G vs. frequency for EC/BCA solutions
containing different concentrations of EC: (, 䊉) G and G
for 10 wt.% EC in BCA; (, ) G and G for 6 wt.% EC in BCA.
increase in the viscosity of the resulting polymer solution.
However, the behavior is quite different as the concentration
of EC increases up to 10%. The G and G curves are clearly
different, the values of G are larger than those of G over
the entire frequency range. It is particularly worth to men-
tion that the G of polymer solution with 10% EC drops to
a value which is much lower than that of polymer solution
with 6% EC. For dilute polymer solution, only the interaction
between polymer and solvent is included in considering its
dispersion and rheological behaviors. For concentrated poly-
mer solutions, in addition, the interactions between polymer
and polymer molecules become more and more important. It
results in agglomeration of polymer, thus lowering the storage
modulus of the polymer solution.
4. Conclusion
In this study, the viscosities of several commercial pastes are
first examined to find the effect of shear rate on the viscosity
and to establish the correlation between paste liquidity and
printing characteristics. Furthermore, the study also prepares
vehicles and pastes for elucidation of the impact of different
fillers on paste rheological behaviors. From our experiment
results, the conclusions from the present investigations are
as follows:
1. Our results show that commercial pastes are not totally
suitable for application in screen-printing process. The
commercially available paste will be suitable for tilting
printer if the viscosity lies between 1.0 and 2.5 Pa s when
the past is at high shear rates.
2. With regards to the effect of fillers, addition of different
fillers into the same vehicle system (EC/solvent), the paste
rheological properties change significantly. Filler surface
property, which determines the dispersion quality of fillers
in the medium, is a key factor for change in the paste rhe-
ological properties. After SiO2 powders are treated with a
silane-coupling agent, the adsorbed silane molecules on
the powder surface extend its hydrophobic part of the
structure into the organic medium, leading to an improve-
ment of the compatibility between particles and medium
on one hand. On the other hand, it behaves like a dis-
persant, leading to a better dispersion of particles within
the vehicle solution. A colloidal suspension with a lower
viscosity value is thus achieved.
3. Effect of the solvent is not negligible. Solvents with dif-
ferent polarities will change the dispersion quality of the
filler particles and their capability to form a network struc-
ture. This results in change of paste in its thixotropic
and viscoelastic characteristics as well as the shear yield
stress.
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