Fabrication and characterization of Screen-printed Graphite and Nickel Based Thick Film Resistive Strain Sensor

Piezo resistive properties of thick film resistors are shown by a variety of nanomaterials, in which graphite and nickel are used to study the piezo resistive response in this paper. The present work proposes to fabricate stain sensor on substrates like PVC, and transparent plastic sheet. Screen printing method is used for patterning of sensor on the substrates with two different inks namely piezo resistive ink made of graphite and nickel powder and conductive ink made of silver. Change in resistance of the fabricated sensor is noted for the changes in force applied on the sensor and corresponding gauge factor is observed to be around 10.5 and 11 for PVC and OHP respectively. The screen-printed strain gauge performance is investigated and presented in this paper. This study of mechanical test results demonstrate that the sensor can be used for micro strain detection in various applications.