Transparent and flexible force sensor based on microextrusion 3D printing

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Author(s): Runhuai Yang¹ ; Tianyun Gao¹ ; Didi Li¹ ; Yueming Chen¹ ; Guoqing Jin² ; Haiyi Liang^{3, 4} ; Fuzhou Niu⁵
- Affiliations: 1: Department of Biomedical Engineering , School of Life Science, Anhui Medical University , 230032 Hefei , People's Republic of China ;
  2: Robotics and Microsystems Center , School of Mechanical and Electric Engineering, Soochow University , 215006 Suzhou , People's Republic of China ;
  3: CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials , University of Science and Technology of China , 230027 Hefei , People's Republic of China ;
  4: IAT-Chungu Joint Laboratory for Additive Manufacturing , Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science and Technology of China , 230026 Hefei , People's Republic of China ;
  5: College of Mechanical Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology , 215000 Suzhou , People's Republic of China
Source: Volume 13, Issue 10, October 2018, p. 1460 – 1464
DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2018.5076 , Online ISSN 1750-0443

Transparent and flexible force sensor provides potential applications in a lot of area such as human wearable sensor, robotic sensor and underwater equipment. Here the work presents a zig-zag patterned hydrogel-based force sensor. Slow-gelling alginate hydrogel, self-designed microextrusion 3D printer and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were adapted for the sensor fabrication. A slow-gelling hydrogel printing ink was prepared and printed onto the treated PDMS layer with a computer-aided designed zig-zag pattern. The line width and resistance of the printed hydrogel were precisely controlled by the self-designed microextrusion 3D printer. To stabilise the water content, a sandwich structure was adopted and two PDMS cover layers were fabricated to seal the hydrogel sensor. Theoretical analysis was performed and it is shown that the change rate of resistance was linear related to the force, and this analysis was proved by experiment. Experiments also show that the sensor was flexible and transparent. The zig-zag patterned hydrogel also and the PDMS layers provided stable water content and recording.

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Transparent and flexible force sensor based on microextrusion 3D printing

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