Highly reproducible printable graphite strain gauges for flexible devices

Abstract A growing area for the electronics industry is the development of flexible components for novel devices. Controlling the flexibility of such devices requires the precise and reliable measurement of strains in a manner compatible with the form and function of the device. In this article, we demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of printed strain gauges with a gauge factor as high as 19.3 ± 1.4, fast signal response and high reproducibility. The device is made of graphite ink deposited by screen printing on a plastic substrate. The flexible printed sensor is capable of precisely measuring repetitive tensile and compressive bending strain changes. An approach for eliminating the temperature-induced errors of strain gauges based on neutral axis engineering is also described.

[1]  Giovanni Saggio,et al.  Piezoresistive behaviour of flexible PEDOT:PSS based sensors , 2009 .

[2]  Marcus Maiwald,et al.  INKtelligent printed strain gauges , 2010 .

[3]  Roland Werthschützky,et al.  Printed resistive strain sensors for monitoring of light-weight structures , 2011, Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[4]  J. Kysar,et al.  Measurement of the Elastic Properties and Intrinsic Strength of Monolayer Graphene , 2008, Science.

[5]  Andreas Nocke,et al.  Polymer composite strain sensor based on dielectrophoretically aligned tellurium nanorods , 2009 .

[6]  S Moshfegh,et al.  STRAIN SENSORS BASED ON GRAPHITE FILLERS , 2004 .

[7]  Yonggang Huang,et al.  Silicon nanomembranes for fingertip electronics , 2012, Nanotechnology.

[8]  H. Choi,et al.  Highly conductive, printable and stretchable composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver. , 2010, Nature nanotechnology.

[9]  H. Fukunaga,et al.  A carbon nanotube/polymer strain sensor with linear and anti-symmetric piezoresistivity , 2011 .

[10]  Stéphanie P. Lacour,et al.  Extended cyclic uniaxial loading of stretchable gold thin-films on elastomeric substrates , 2009 .

[11]  Matthew T. Cole,et al.  Flexible Electronics: The Next Ubiquitous Platform , 2012, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[12]  Calvin C. Gotlieb.  A time to retrospect and prospect , 2008, CACM.

[13]  Roland Werthschützky,et al.  B1.3 - Printed Piezoresistive Strain Sensors for Monitoring of Light-Weight Structures , 2011 .

[14]  John A. Rogers,et al.  Highly Sensitive Skin‐Mountable Strain Gauges Based Entirely on Elastomers , 2012 .

[15]  C. Tzoganakis,et al.  High yield production and purification of few layer graphene by Gum Arabic assisted physical sonication , 2013, Scientific Reports.

[16]  E. Laukhina,et al.  Ultrasensitive Piezoresistive All‐Organic Flexible Thin Films , 2010, Advanced materials.

[17]  W. Hwang,et al.  Bendability optimization of flexible optical nanoelectronics via neutral axis engineering , 2012, Nanoscale Research Letters.

[18]  Hwan-Sik Yoon,et al.  Aerosol printed carbon nanotube strain sensor , 2012, Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[19]  Darren J. Southee,et al.  Examination of silver–graphite lithographically printed resistive strain sensors , 2007 .

[20]  Ulrich S Schubert,et al.  Roll‐to‐Roll Compatible Sintering of Inkjet Printed Features by Photonic and Microwave Exposure: From Non‐Conductive Ink to 40% Bulk Silver Conductivity in Less Than 15 Seconds , 2012, Advanced materials.

[21]  Benjamin C. K. Tee,et al.  Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes. , 2011, Nature nanotechnology.

[22]  R. Abbel,et al.  Photonic flash sintering of silver nanoparticle inks: a fast and convenient method for the preparation of highly conductive structures on foil , 2012 .

[23]  Jong-Hyun Ahn,et al.  Graphene-based transparent strain sensor , 2013 .

[24]  Paul Calvert,et al.  Conducting Polymer and Conducting Composite Strain Sensors on Textiles , 2008 .

[25]  T. Someya,et al.  Stretchable, Large‐area Organic Electronics , 2010, Advanced materials.