Development of new capacitive strain sensors based on thick film polymer and cermet technologies

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. Vol. 79; no. 2; pp. 102 - 114
• Main Authors: Arshak, K.I., McDonagh, D., Durcan, M.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01-02-2000; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Capacitive strain sensor; Cermet dielectrics; Exact sciences and technology; General equipment and techniques; Instruments for strain, force and torque; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Mechanical instruments, equipment and techniques; Physics; Polymer dielectrics; Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing; Thick film sensors; Transducers; Capacitive strain sensor; Polymer dielectrics; Cermet dielectrics; Thick film sensors; Thick film devices; Composite dielectric; Cermets; Capacitive transducer; Polymer films; Experimental study; Strain sensors
• ISSN: 0924-4247; 1873-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/S0924-4247(99)00275-7

In this work, the strain sensing characteristics of new thick film capacitive sensors are presented. New cermet and polymer dielectric pastes based on lead–zirconate–titanate (PZT) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) have been developed. The screen printing technique has been used to fabricate the sensors on 96% alumina substrates. Various strain gauge characteristics have been studied, including the electrical properties of both the cermet and polymeric films. Both the cermet and polymer sensors exhibit good dielectric properties with gauge factors comparable to piezoresistive strain sensors. An application circuit based on integrated bipolar arrays incorporating the new capacitive strain sensors was designed and tested. The output from this circuit is a frequency that is proportional to the applied strain.