Manufacturing Strain Sensor Via Printed Electronics Onto 3D Printed Substrates

Inkjet printing is a promising technology with advantages such as digital customization, reduced cost and fabrication time, and non-contact printing. These features enable inkjet printing to fabricate on novel, diverse substrates such as 3D printed substrates. 3D printing technology builds 3D structures with freedom of design, mass customization, low cost, and ability to fabricate complex geometries.

In this thesis, we aim to integrate inkjet printing with 3D printing technology and fabricate a strain gauge sensor. We use various additive manufacturing (AM) techniques including 3D fused filament fabrication (FFF) printing, extrusion printing, and inkjet printing. We used silver nanoparticle ink and studied different conditions to maximize electrical conductivity of the ink. This optimization includes ultraviolet (UV) time exposure, drop spacing, heating conditions, intense pulsed light parameters, and length shrinkage.

A low-cost strain gauge sensor is fabricated onto 3D printed PLA material. The related mechanical/electrical tests are performed for the sensor characterization.