Screen-Printed Inductive Silver Ink Strain Sensor on Stretchable TPU Substrate

Abstract

This work describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of screen-printed inductive silver ink strain sensors on stretchable thermoplastic polyurethane substrates. These sensors are made by screen-printing a flat wire inductor made from conductive silver ink onto a stretchable substrate. Stretching these structures results in an increase in their inductance, revealing a relationship between applied strain and measured inductance. Resulting devices show an initial inductance of 51 nH and a linear sensitivity of ~1.7 between 0% and 13% strain, which makes them suitable for applications where high strains are expected such as human health monitoring. Further, these sensors can be batch fabricated with screen-printing, making them an economical choice.