Srinivasaraghavan Govindarajan Rishikesh, Ren Zefu, Melendez Isabel, Boetcher Sandra K S, Madiyar Foram, Kim Daewon
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Apr 24;24(9):2694. doi: 10.3390/s24092694.
Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has recently seen increased utilization due to its versatility in using functional materials, offering a new pathway for next-generation conformal electronics in the smart sensor field. However, the limited availability of polymer-based ultraviolet (UV)-curable materials with enhanced piezoelectric properties necessitates the development of a tailorable process suitable for 3D printing. This paper investigates the structural, thermal, rheological, mechanical, and piezoelectric properties of a newly developed sensor resin material. The polymer resin is based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a matrix, mixed with constituents enabling UV curability, and boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are added to form a nanocomposite resin. The results demonstrate the successful micro-scale printability of the developed polymer and nanocomposite resins using a liquid crystal display (LCD)-based 3D printer. Additionally, incorporating BNNTs into the polymer matrix enhanced the piezoelectric properties, with an increase in the voltage response by up to 50.13%. This work provides new insights for the development of 3D printable flexible sensor devices and energy harvesting systems.
增材制造（AM）技术近年来因其在使用功能材料方面的多功能性而得到越来越多的应用，为智能传感器领域的下一代共形电子学提供了一条新途径。然而，具有增强压电性能的聚合物基紫外线（UV）可固化材料的可用性有限，因此需要开发一种适合3D打印的定制工艺。本文研究了一种新开发的传感器树脂材料的结构、热、流变、机械和压电性能。该聚合物树脂以聚偏氟乙烯（PVDF）为基体，与能实现UV固化的成分混合，并添加氮化硼纳米管（BNNTs）以形成纳米复合树脂。结果表明，使用基于液晶显示器（LCD）的3D打印机成功实现了所开发的聚合物和纳米复合树脂的微尺度可打印性。此外，将BNNTs掺入聚合物基体中增强了压电性能，电压响应提高了50.13%。这项工作为3D可打印柔性传感器装置和能量收集系统的开发提供了新的见解。
