In-Mold Electronics has received much attention for realizing body panel integrated electronic architectures owing to the potential of significant weight reduction through structural integration. Automotive surfaces may be functionalized through IME, including smart door handles, smart tailgates, bumper lighting, and heater elements. A large part of the weight of the car electronics comes from wire harnesses that are used to carry signals from the sensors, cameras, and touch surfaces to the engine control unit and the power train control units and transmit signals for guidance, navigation, and control for the realization of the advanced drive assist systems. Examples include the lane keep assist systems, collision avoidance systems, adaptive cruise control, and park assist. It is common to have wire harness weight in the range of 80-200lbs on a typical consumer vehicle which may connect to as many as 80-100 sensors, 50-80 processors, and 80-100 actuators performing various functions. Process recipes are needed to realize additively printed circuits for the automotive platform. In this paper, the fabrication of additively fabricated circuits on thermoformable substrates for IME has been studied. A mold that captures the form factors expected in numerous Human-Machine Interfaces on the automotive platform has been developed. Direct-write additively printed circuits' performance has been studied for various stretch ratios and compared to the electrical performance. Trace failure has been researched for various cross-sectional areas to determine an appropriate trace profile based on the stretch ratio. The traces are kept at the temperature ranges necessary for AEC- Grade 3 compliance. The traces are being researched for their influence on the aging of the printed traces. The failure was quantified using electrical performance and visual analysis. The analyzed trace process-performance knowledge was then used to construct the discrete component circuit for thermoforming.
