Development of inkjet printed strain sensors

Abstract

Strain sensors with different architectures, such as single sensors, sensor arrays and a sensor matrix have been developed by inkjet printing technology. Sensors with gauge factors up to 2.48, dimensions of 1.5 mm × 1.8 mm and interdigitated structures with a distance of 30 μm between the finger lines have been achieved based on PeDOT (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and conductive ink. Strain gauges based on silver ink have also been achieved with a gauge factor of 0.35. Performance tests including 1000 mechanical cycles have been successfully carried out for the development of smart prosthesis applications.

Properties and long-term behavior of nanoparticle based inkjet printed strain gauges

“…Results demonstrate a constant peak to peak value The K-factor of the printed strain gauges was about 3.9, which is higher than K-factors of standard foil strain gauges [4]. Additionally, it is one of the highest K-factors reported in literature for inkjet printed sensors based on Ag-ink [7][8][9]. Furthermore, no significant changes of the K-factor values were observed during the 120 consecutive stress cycles.…”

Progress of alternative sintering approaches of inkjet-printed metal inks and their application for manufacturing of flexible electronic devices

“…4,5,9,55,56 Also manufacturing the source/drain and gate electrodes of transistors, which are essential components for many electronic applications such as logic circuits and active matrix displays, represents a highly active research area. [68][69][70] Monitoring of environmental conditions and mechanical stress in addition to wireless communication cumulates in the vision of the internet of things (IOT), where every single object in the world is connected to form one huge network demonstrating the vast potential demand of cheap and exible electronic devices on every kind of substrate material. 57 For these devices, printing technologies can serve as viable techniques to manufacture electrode structures from Ag and Au inks.…”

Strain Sensors in Wearable Devices

“…Electro-mechanical properties of the inkjet-printed strain sensors are comparable to the other commercially available strain gauges [62]. It is also possible to print sensor arrays (of strain gauges) using inkjet printing [56]. As mentioned earlier, with inkjet printers, complex patterns can be drawn on a variety of substrate.…”

“…For printing, an EPSON piezo inkjet printer was used with the tracks printed using silver nano-particles solution "Metalon® JS-B15P" by Novacentrix. Authors in [56], demonstrated the fabrication of a single sensor and sensor arrays by using different conductive inks (ink based on PeDOT and silver ink) to achieve a track width of nearly 40μm. Such inkjet printer strain sensors can be integrated into wearable textile such as gloves to accurately track hand and finger movements [7].…”