Inkjet-Printed RFID-Skins for the Detection of Surface Defects

The aging of polymer-based objects (tires, cable harness, paints, gaskets) may appear as the formation of surface defects like cracks and scratches. An early detection of such signs may support the Predictive Maintenance of critical polymeric devices before the occurrence of a severe damage. Inkjet printed Space Filling Curves (SFC) are here proposed as an artificial electric skin, suitable to be integrated with an RFID tag, at the purpose to detect and remotely transmit the presence of small aging signs of a surface. Thanks to the particular properties of the Gosper SFC, the size and space resolution of the skin can be easily controlled by few parameters. The idea is corroborated by preliminary experimentations with low-cost inkjet printed traces that easily enable to monitor the presence of a defect from a distance of 10 m and more.