Additive manufacturing of integrated piezoresistive sensors

Motivation 

Compared to conventional manufacturing processes, Additive Manufacturing offers a wide range of new design options, including a high potential for function integration. Fused Layer Modeling provides the possibility of combining several materials in one component without an additional joining process. For example, functions based on locally adapted thermal or electrical conductivity can be integrated into one component and piezoresistive structures can be realized by means of local application of composite materials.     

Objectives

In literature, first approaches are described which show a general feasibility of additively manufactured piezoresistive sensors, but the integration using Fused Layer Modeling is hardly considered. Furthermore, no method for the design of such sensor structures is known so far. The aim of the PhD project is therefore to develop a method for the conception and design of additively manufactured piezoresistive sensors. To achieve this, an analysis of the degrees of freedom of Additive Manufacturing with regard to sensor integration and manufacturing using a potential network has to be conducted.