Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 4220: Printed Strain Gauge on 3D and Low-Melting Point Plastic Surface by Aerosol Jet Printing and Photonic Curing

Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 4220: Printed Strain Gauge on 3D and Low-Melting Point Plastic Surface by Aerosol Jet Printing and Photonic Curing
Sensors doi: 10.3390/s19194220
Authors:
Michela Borghetti
Mauro Serpelloni
Emilio Sardini

Printing sensors and electronics directly on the objects is very attractive for producing smart devices, but it is still a challenge. Indeed, in some applications, the substrate that supports the printed electronics could be non-planar or the thermal curing of the functional inks could damage temperature-sensitive substrates such as plastics, fabric or paper. In this paper, we propose a new method for manufacturing silver-based strain sensors with arbitrary and custom geometries directly on plastic objects with curvilinear surfaces: (1) the silver lines are deposited by aerosol jet printing, which can print on non-planar or 3D surfaces; (2) photonic sintering quickly cures the deposited layer, avoiding the overheating of the substrate. To validate the manufacturing process, we printed strain gauges with conventional geometry on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) conduits. The entire manufacturing process, included sensor wiring and optional encapsulation, is performed at room temperature, compatible with the plastic surface. At the end of the process, the measured thickness of the printed sensor was 8.72 μm on average, the volume resistivity was evaluated 40 μΩ∙cm, and the thermal coefficient resistance was meas...

Source: Sensors - September 27, 2019 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Michela Borghetti Mauro Serpelloni Emilio Sardini Tags: Article Source Type: research