The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to a team of Purdue Polytechnic researchers for a new 3D printing method. The technology creates flexible sensors for applications in soft robotics and temperature monitoring.
Robert Nawrocki, a faculty member in the School of Engineering Technology, led the development of the technology. The inventor team includes Jinsheng Fan, Brittany Newell and Jose Manuel Garcia-Bravo. The patent officially issued on July 7.
The researchers developed a technique that combines additive manufacturing with a process called electric poling. Manufacturers use electric poling to align polymer chains and create piezoelectric properties (which allows the material to hold an electric charge). Previous manufacturing methods could not combine these two processes.
The new method allows engineers to 3D print complex geometric structures using a polymer known as PVdF. The process polarizes the material during manufacturing. This technique allows manufacturers to embed force and temperature sensing capabilities directly into 3D-printed objects.
The Purdue team's method significantly improves the performance of the printed sensors. The electrically poled PVdF structures demonstrate a piezoelectric response approximately eight times higher than unpoled materials.
The technology provides new manufacturing pathways for soft robotics. Soft robots require small, flexible sensors to gather environmental data and control delicate movements. Traditional silicon-based sensors are too rigid for these applications. The fully 3D-printed PVdF sensors bend and stretch to accommodate these compliant robotic frameworks.
The technology is currently available to license through the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization.
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