Photocurable Polymer-Based 3D Printing: Advanced Flexible Strain Sensors for Human Kinematics Monitoring

Vat photopolymerization-based additive manufacturing (AM) is critical in improving solutions for wearable sensors. The ability to add nanoparticles to increase the polymer resin’s mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties creates a strong proposition for investigating custom nanocomposites for the medical field. This work uses a low-cost biocompatible polymer resin enhanced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and a digital light processing-based AM system to develop accurate strain sensors. These sensors demonstrate the ability to carry a 244% maximum strain while lasting hundreds of cycles without degradation at lower strain ranges. In addition, the printing process allows for detailed prints to be accomplished at a sub-30 micron spatial resolution while also assisting alignment of the MWCNTs in the printing plane. Moreover, high-magnification imagery demonstrates uniform MWCNT dispersion by utilizing planetary shear mixing and identifying MWCNT pullout at fracture locations. Finally, the proposed nanocomposite is used to print customized and wearable strain sensors for finger motion monitoring and can detect different amounts of flexion and extension. The 3D printed nanocomposite sensors demonstrate characteristics that make it a strong candidate for the applications of human kinematics monitoring and sensing.