Emerging technologies of net-form manufacturing and electronic packaging re
ly on the use of precisely deposited molten metal droplets with sizes of th
e order of 100 mum in diameter In many technological realizations, closely
spaced droplets are electrostatically charged and deflected onto a substrat
e in a manner similar to inkjet printing in order to "print" fine features
onto a board for electronics applications or onto a substrate for net-form
manufacturing. Unlike inkjet printing, the aforementioned emerging technolo
gies require the printing of large lateral dimensions onto the substrate by
means of electrostatic charging and deflection (of the order of several ce
ntimeters), and hence these applications require the droplets to have signi
ficantly higher charges than in inkjet printing technology. The high charge
s of the closely spaced droplets can lead to interdroplet electrostatic int
eractions that will cause significant deviations in the droplets' trajector
ies. Hence, the understanding of the physics of interdroplet electrostatic
interactions is of primary importance in order to assure the fidelity of th
e net-formed component or the printed electronic package. In this work, we
present a model that predicts the trajectories of the droplets when charged
and deflected and corresponding experimental validations. Conditions for w
hich electrostatic interactions are negligible are sought.