Using Micro-Molding and Stamping to Fabricate Conductive Polydimethylsiloxane-Based Flexible High-Sensitivity Strain Gauges

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2018-02, Vol.18 (2), p.618
• Main Authors: Han, Chi-Jui, Chiang, Hsuan-Ping, Cheng, Yun-Chien
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: carbon particle; conductive PDMS; Elastomers; gauge factor; Mass production; Molding (process); Patterning; Photolithography; piezoresistance; Piezoresistivity; Polydimethylsiloxane; Sensitivity; Sensors; Silicone resins; Stamping; stamping-process; strain gauge; Strain gauges; Thickness
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s18020618

In this study, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and conductive carbon nanoparticles were combined to fabricate a conductive elastomer PDMS (CPDMS). A high sensitive and flexible CPDMS strain sensor is fabricated by using stamping-process based micro patterning. Compared with conventional sensors, flexible strain sensors are more suitable for medical applications but are usually fabricated by photolithography, which suffers from a large number of steps and difficult mass production. Hence, we fabricated flexible strain sensors using a stamping-process with fewer processes than photolithography. The piezoresistive coefficient and sensitivity of the flexible strain sensor were improved by sensor pattern design and thickness change. Micro-patterning is used to fabricate various CPDMS microstructure patterns. The effect of gauge pattern was evaluated with ANSYS simulations. The piezoresistance of the strain gauges was measured and the gauge factor determined. Experimental results show that the piezoresistive coefficient of CPDMS is approximately linear. Gauge factor measurement results show that the gauge factor of a 140.0 μm thick strain gauge with five grids is the highest.