Additive manufactured micro-sensor from silver nanoparticles for measuring shear stress and pressure

Additive manufacturing is considered as a revolution in manufacturing. One of this type of manufacturing, three-dimensional (3D) inkjet printing is capable of quickly printing conductive tracks on flexible materials, and have attracted considerable attentions in recent years. To take advantage of this technology, flexible micro-sensors for measuring shear stress and pressure are fabricated from silver nanoparticles with digital models by 3D inkjet printing rapidly. The influence of printing layers and sintering temperature on the chemical and physical properties of micro-sensors are investigated. Surface morphology and electrical resistivity are also examined ex-situ. Test results show the thickness and electrical resistivity of AM micro-sensors deceased significantly as the increase of sintering temperature, which achieve 1.41 μm and 7.64×10^-8 Ω·m at the sintering temperature of 250 °C, shear stress and pressure. The novel AM micro-sensors provide a new route to the economic and rapid development of shear stress and pressure sensing.