Ms. Monica Viz Profile

Monica Viz

at Purdue Univ

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Publications (1)

Proceedings Article | 22 March 2021 Presentation + Paper

On the performance of additively manufactured CNF/PLA piezoresistive strain sensors

J. Hernandez, C. Maynard, D. Gonzalez, M. Viz, J. Garcia, B. Newell, T. Tallman

Proceedings Volume 11591, 115910B (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2582165

KEYWORDS: Fused deposition modeling, Structural sensing, Resistance, Printing, Nanofibers, Sensors, Additive manufacturing, Structural health monitoring, Sensor technology, Nondestructive evaluation

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Robust and adaptable sensor technology is essential for achieving meaningful structural health monitoring (SHM) and integrated nondestructive evaluation (NDE). Unfortunately, prevailing sensor technologies are most often pre-packaged and therefore lack much adaptability. In other words, sensors are rarely structure-specific or application-specific. Rather, an existing pre-packaged sensor must be retrofit to the component or structure under inspection. Multifunctional additive manufacturing (AM) has immense potential to overcome this limitation by permitting stimulus-responsive materials to be printed onto or directly embedded within structures for application-specific sensing. Herein, we explore this concept for strain sensors fabricated via multifunctional AM. Specifically, pelletized polylactic acid (PLA) is modified by the addition of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) at 7.5% by weight. This modification is done through a dry-mix process which is followed by multiple reclaiming and re-extrusion cycles through a single-screw filament extruder. Through this process, the CNFs form an electrically conductive network within the PLA structure. Because the electrical conductivity of the CNFmodified PLA is deformation-dependent (i.e. the material is piezoresistive), the sensors printed from CNF/PLA filament can be leveraged for strain sensing. In this work, we utilize a commercially available fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer to print the CNF-modified PLA into small and thin dog-bone shapes. These sensors then are adhered to a comparatively stiff substrate such that resistance changes across the sensor can be monitored as a function of strain as the substrate is deformed within a load frame. Our preliminary results show that AM-produced CNF-modified PLA strain gauges can indeed be used to track strains consistently. These successful preliminary results show that multifunctional AM has considerable potential for the development of highly adaptive, application-specific, and on-demand sensing technology.

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