3D printed sensor design and development using aerosol jet process

• Main Author: Lai, Joo Qee
• Other Authors: Moon Seung Ki
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Aeronautical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/141126
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) is an Additive Manufacturing (AM) method for fabricating microelectronics on flexible substrates. It is a 3-dimensional (3D), non-contact and direct writing technology. Flexible microelectronics can also be fabricated using ink materials that possess flexibility as one of their characteristics. While most research has been done on the investigating the suitability of specific ink materials for producing flexible microelectronics using AJP, this project focuses on comparing two different flexible ink materials by characterizing their electrical and mechanical properties when subjected to cyclic bending load. In this report, key issues with the conventional design of a strain gauge is also discussed and a proposed design that is designed to be more suitable for AJP will be presented. As research has shown, main process parameters directly affect the printed line quality significantly. Therefore, the experiments conducted to determine the suitable process parameters for achieving an acceptable line quality have also been documented in this report. Finally, the effect of the number of print passes on the ink material durability under bending load will also be investigated.