Session: 03-01-03: Annual Conference-Wide Symposium on Additive Manufacturing

Paper Number: 150590

150590 - Aerosol Jet Printing of High-Temperature Bimodal Sensors for Simultaneous Strain and Temperature Sensing Using Gold and Indium Tin Oxide Nanoparticle Inks 

Multimodal sensors have numerous integrated sensing capabilities that enable a wide range of applications, including but not limited to soft robotics, human-machine interfaces, structural, environmental, and bio health monitoring, etc. However, complex and expensive manufacturing processes, availability of multifunctional materials, cross-sensitivity of the input signals, device form factors, etc. limit the choice of multimodal sensors. In this study, a high-temperature bimodal sensor is demonstrated by aerosol jet printing (AJP). The versatile AJP technique allows the deployment of a wide range of advanced sensor materials for building integrated and miniaturized sensor arrays with improved accuracy and reliability. Gold nanoparticle ink is used as strain sensing material whereas gold and indium tin oxide nanoparticle inks are used to print the thermocouples owing to their exceptional thermal stability, oxidation resistance, and consistent sensing performance at high temperatures.  The printed miniatured flexible strain sensor resistance is tunable and can precisely detect micro strains by measuring the resistive voltage change of the gauge, while the Seebeck voltage generated at the thermocouple junction is used to detect the temperature. The printed bimodal sensor for concurrent strain and temperature sensing possesses a high gauge factor of 2.54 ± 0.07 at room temperature which is 25% higher than commercial strain gauges and a thermopower output of 55.64 ± 1.5 μV/°C combined with excellent high-temperature thermal stability of up to 540 °C. The low standard deviation of gauge factor and thermopower output ensures the reproducibility of the bimodal sensor. The Seebeck voltage generated at the gold/ITO thermocouple junction as well as the gauge factor of the strain gauge are also highly repeatable in multiple measurements ensuring the precise detection of temperature and strain by printed sensors. To validate the stability of the sensor at 540 °C, the sensor is kept inside an electric muffle furnace at 540 °C for 7 days thermal soaking test, and the sensor maintains its properties and performance before and after the thermal soaking test. Compared to traditional single-modality sensors, the printed bimodal sensor significantly increases the sensing capacity and improves spatial resolution using microscale printed patterns. The study also demonstrates that the strain sensor with an integrated thermocouple enables in situ compensation of the temperature effect on strain sensing, significantly improving strain measurement accuracy by decoupling the strain-induced resistance change and the temperature-induced resistance change. By the combination of AJP with nanomaterial inks, a wide range of multifunctional devices can be developed for a broad range of emerging applications.

Presenting Author: Md Omarsany Bappy University of Notre Dame

Presenting Author Biography: Md Omarsany Bappy is a research assistant at the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing for Energy and Health Lab in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in mechanical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2018 and 2021. His research interests include additive manufacturing of functional devices, flexible electronics, measurement in extreme environments, and nanoscale energy transport.

Authors:

Md Omarsany Bappy University of Notre Dame
Qiang Jiang University of Notre Dame
Stephanie Atampugre University of Notre Dame
Yanliang Zhang University of Notre Dame