Abstract
A 3D printed force sensor with a composite structure developed by combining digital light processing (DLP) based printing and inkjet printing technologies is described in this paper. The sensor has cost effectiveness and time-saving advantages compared to the traditional sensor manufacturing process. During this work, the substrate of the force sensor was printed by a DLP based 3D printer using a transparent high-temperature resin, and the strain gauge of the force sensor was inkjet printed using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT/PSS) conductive ink. Finite element (FE) simulation was conducted to find the print origin of the strain gauge. The relationship between the mechanical properties of the post-cured resin and the curing time was investigated and the resistance of the printed strain gauges was characterized to optimize process parameters. Afterward, the force sensor was characterized. Experimental results show that the sensitivity of the sensor is 2.92% N−1 and the linearity error is 3.1485% full scale (FS) within the range from 0 mN–160 mN, and the effective gauge factor of the strain gauge is about 0.98. The resistance drifting is less than 0.004 kΩ within an hour. These figures prove that the device can perform as a force sensor and 3D printing technology may have great applied potential in sensor fabrication.
Highlights
The device that can convert the applied force into related electrical signals is called a force sensor.It usually works by measuring the displacement or strain of the force sensing element, which is called a flexure [1]
Typical force sensors are usually fabricated with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, which has the disadvantages of limited range of functional materials, in addition to being fragile and expensive
A considerable amount of research has appeared in the fields of mechanics, electronics, kinematics, optics, acoustics, etc. 3D printing is suitable for the fabrication of force sensing modules and electronic modules of the sensors [2,3]
Summary
The device that can convert the applied force into related electrical signals is called a force sensor It usually works by measuring the displacement or strain of the force sensing element, which is called a flexure [1]. In view of this research on 3D printed force sensors, most of it only uses 3D printing technology to fabricate force sensing elements and packages. The DLP based printing can produce complex structures with high precision, and the inkjet proposed in this paper. DLP based printing can produce complex structures with high precision, printing has advantages featuring maskless, non-contact, and simple process steps compared with and theprinting inkjet printing advantages maskless, non-contact, and simple screen and spinhas coating [15,16,17].featuring. It only took a few hours to fabricate the force sensor with the use of 3D printing technologies.
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