An Integrative 3D printing method for rapid additive manufacturing of a capacitive force sensor
An Integrative 3D printing method for rapid additive manufacturing of a capacitive force sensor
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DOI：
10.1088/1361-6439/abf843
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发表时间：
2021-06-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Wang, K. X.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Liu, G. D.;Wang, C. H.;Wang, K. X.
随着三维打印（3D打印）技术的快速发展，已经通过3D打印制造了多种电子设备。与传统的微机电系统（MEMS）制造工艺相比，3D打印技术为满足客户的个性化需求提供了便捷的方法。然而，3D打印的应用受到常用聚合物的电绝缘特性的限制。此外，使用传统的3D打印机制造具有复杂几何结构的MEMS器件，额外的对准和组装过程仍然是必不可少的。为了解决这些问题，本文提出了一种用于快速制造的集成3D打印方法。使用三重挤出机3D打印机，可以在3D打印过程中交替打印电绝缘聚乳酸（PLA）长丝、导电PLA长丝和可溶性高抗冲聚苯乙烯长丝。作为该方法的应用，通过一步3D打印工艺制造了具有相对复杂的悬挂梁板结构的电容式力传感器，无需使用任何额外的金属化工艺、卸载-重新加载灯丝工艺、对准工艺和组装工艺。 3D打印的力传感器具有良好的动态性能，用于监测人体的脉搏。结果表明，集成3D打印方法有潜力满足个性化应用MEMS器件制造的新兴需求。
With the rapid development of the three-dimensional printing (3D printing) technique, several electronic devices have been fabricated by 3D printing. Compared with the traditional micro electromechanical system (MEMS) manufacturing processes, the 3D printing technique provides a convenient method to meet the customers' personalized demands. However, the applications of 3D printing are restricted by the electrically insulating properties of the commonly used polymers. Besides, additional alignment and assembling processes are still indispensable to fabricate the MEMS devices with geometrically complex structures using the conventional 3D printers. In order to solve these problems, an integrative 3D printing approach for rapid manufacturing is presented in this paper. With a triple-extruder 3D printer, the electrically insulating polylactic acid (PLA) filament, the electrically conductive PLA filament, and the soluble high impact polystyrene filament can be printed alternately in the 3D printing process. As an application of the method, a capacitive force sensor with a relatively complex suspended beam-plate structure was fabricated in a one-step 3D printing process without using any additional metallization process, unloading-reloading filament process, alignment process, and assembling process. With a good dynamic performance, the 3D printed force sensor was used to monitor human's blood pulse. The results show that the integrative 3D printing method has potential to meet the emerging requirement for manufacturing of MEMS devices for personalized applications.