Appl. Phys.
A (2016)122:972
DOI 10.1007/s00339-016-0507-8
Fabrication of flex sensors through direct ink write technique
and its electrical characterization
Muhammad Abas1 • Khalid Rahman2
Received: 11 September 2016 / Accepted: 12 October 2016
 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Abstract The present work is intended to fabricate low-
cost flex sensor from conductive carbon paste using direct
ink write (DIW) technique. DIW method is one of the
additive manufacturing processes, which is capable to
deposit a variety of material on a variety of substrates by a
different mechanism to feature resolution at a microns
level. It is widely used in the electronic industry for fab-
rication of PCBS and electrodes for different electronic
devices. The DIW system in present study extrudes mate-
rial stored in the syringe barrel through nozzle using
compressed air. This mechanism will assist in creating
patterns on a variety of substrates. Pneumatic controller is
employed to control deposition of material, while com-
puter-controlled X–Y stage is employed to control pattern
generation. For effective and control patterning, printing
parameters were optimized using Taguchi design opti-
mization technique. The conductive carbon paste is used as
ink for pattern generation on flexible PET substrate.
Samples of flex sensor having different dimensions are
prepared through DIW. The fabricated sensors were used
as flexion sensor, and its electrical characteristic was
evaluated. The obtained sensors are stable and reliable in
performance.
& Khalid Rahman
khalid.rehman@giki.edu.pk; khalidrah@gmail.com
1 tive detector. The working principle of fiber sensor is that
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sarhad University of
Science & Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan
2 the other end. Bending of optical fiber causes loss of light
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi,
Pakistan
1 Introduction
Flexible electronics have wide application such as
stretchable and flexible sensors [1], human–machine
interfaces [2, 3], touch screens [4, 5], antennas [6], radio
frequency identifier (RFIDS) [7] and health diagnostic
circuits [8]. Conventional and nonconventional techniques
can be employed to fabricate flexible electronics [9, 10].
Conventional techniques are photolithography, chemical
vapor deposition, thermal vapor deposition and sputtering,
while nonconventional techniques are screen printing,
stamping and gravure printing. For fabrication on a large
scale, numerous direct writing techniques based on additive
manufacturing process have been developed such as ink
jetting, direct laser writing and robocasting.
In a flexion sensor, change in electrical resistance occurs
depending on the extent of subjected bend. Flexion sensor
is used extensively in the detection of collision on mobile
robots, virtual reality gloves and virtual reality suits [11]. It
can be used to monitor and measure joint angles of human
body such as the knee, fingers, ankle, elbow and wrist [11].
Types of flexion sensors most commonly used are con-
ductive patterns, fiber optic and conductive fabric/thread/
polymer based. Conductive patterns comprise of nanopar-
ticles of metals such as carbon or silver mixed with some
binding agents. These types of sensors are mostly unipolar,
i.e., resistance increases only in one direction, while
remains unchanged when bent in another direction [12].
Fiber optic bend sensors are also called optical goniometer.
It comprises of optical fiber, light source and photosensi-
light is emitted at one end of optical fiber while sensed at
intensity [13] and has great application in medical sciences.
The polymer-based flexion sensor has two conductive
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layers, and in between these two layers there is a single
resistive layer. By bending, the layers are pushed together
and as a result resistance decreases [14].
Kim et al. [15] developed a high-performance silicon-
based flexible tactical sensor using dry transfer-printing
method. The fabricated sensor was capable, to sense
position as well as contact force. Vatani et al. [16] fabri-
cated carbon nanotube-based stretchable tactical sensor
using a novel hybrid manufacturing technique. The pre-
sented technique combines projection-based stereo-lithog-
raphy and direct print/cure (DPC). The study revealed that
new technique and material are promising to fabricate
tactical sensor for various flexible electronic applications.
Bang et al. [17] introduces the flexible fiber Bragg grating
(FBG)-based arrayed sensor system. Fabricated sensor is
used to measure bending deflection and strain of wind
turbine tower. In a study of Kang et al. [18], strain of
cantilever beam is measured using a flexible fiber grating
sensor using collimators. Flexible sensor based on PEDOT:
PSS polymer was fabricated and reported by Saggio [19].
Resistance variation is calculated by bending the sensor to
a different radius in two directions either inward or out-
ward. More the substrate is subjected to bending, the
greater will be resistance. So there is a direct relation
between bending and resistance. A design analysis made by
Simone et al. [20] on wearable sensor glove specifically
focuses on bend measure. As compared to commercial
gloves, it is economical and provides good and repeat-
able results. Transparent self-sensing deformable surface
was fabricated by Rendl et al. [21]. The active sensor
material is copolymer P (VDF-TrFE), while electrode
material is metal nanowire ink. These sensors have great
application in deformable displays. Jurgens et al. [22]
fabricated the flexible sensor based on carbon. Polyester is
used as a substrate. The sensor can be used for one direc-
tion bending because the percentage change in resistance is
too low. Saggio [23] studied the effect of change in elec-
trical resistance when the sensors are exposed to stresses
having two different topologies: (1) by bending it at dif-
ferent radii of curvature such as movement of shoulder,
abdomen, neck and chest and (2) by bending with fixed
radius of curvature which is mimic of knee, elbow, ankle
and finger joints. When the sensor is bent inward, its
resistance decreases; resistance increases when it is bent
outward. Luo et al. [24] fabricated graphitic sensors on
polyimide substrate through direct laser writing (DLW)
technique. The performance was studied through mechan-
ical test, i.e., under different bending angle and electrical
test, resistance changes with respect to time response.
Saggio [25] developed flex sensor based on carbon paste.
The sensors were integrated with gloves to perform
goniometric semiautomated measurements. The paste is
coated on flexible plastic substrate and subjected to various
123
M. Abas, K. Rahman
bending angles to study repeatability, reliability and degree
of handling. Mahoor et al. [26] fabricated wearable sensor
for monitoring and measuring joint angles of the human
body. To measure flexion of joints, the sensor is incorpo-
rated with clothes. The limitation of fabricated sensor is its
short life and resistance to high bending angle. Kure et al.
[27] fabricated flexible displacement sensor by patterning
conductive paste on rubber substrate through ink jetting.
By deforming the rubber, a change in electrical resistance
occurs. The basic purpose of it is to pinpoint displacement
of soft actuator. In another study, Kure et al. [28] in their
study developed displacement sensor for intelligent flexible
micro-actuator (FMA) by extruding conductive paste on
rubber seat. Memoon et al. [29] fabricated the bend sensors
through roll to roll micro-grave printing system. Activated
carbon with PVDF as binding agent is deposited on PET
substrate. Fabricated sensor is assimilated with glove to
study its performance. The result revealed that sensors are
stable and have low cost. Gems et al. [30] developed the
flexible sensor from conductive carbon-based ink on
polyester plastic substrate. The performance of the sensor
is studied under different bending angles from 0 to 90.
The study showed that the sensor performance is good in
case of response time and repeatability. Gentner et al. [31]
integrated carbon-based bend sensor with glove for mea-
suring finger movement for neurophysiological settings.
The study revealed that its performance is good, and it is
more economical compared to commercially available.
The present work is intended to optimize printing con-
dition for DIW system using Taguchi design optimization
technique. Based on optimized parameters, flex sensors of
different lengths will be generated from conductive carbon
paste on flexible PET substrate. The sensor will be sub-
jected to different bending angles to study its performance
and stability through electrical characterization.
2 Experimental setup
In present work, positive displacement dispensing system,
one of direct ink write technique is designed for the
printing of flex sensor. The system comprises of X–Y
translation stage controlled through the computer. A 10-cc
ink-loaded syringe is attached to a head assembly to gen-
erate patterns with controlled composition and architecture.
Schematic of designed DIW system is shown in Fig. 1. The
design approach relies on generating the desired pattern by
extruding a continuous ink filament. The ink is delivered to
substrate under pressure mode. The pressure required for
dispensing depends on the diameter of nozzle, ink rheology
and printing speed. The minimum feature size and pattern
dimensions depend on horizontal (x–y) and vertical
(z) translation distances, resolution and speed. The actual
Fabrication of flex sensors through direct ink write technique and its electrical… Page 3 of 8 972

Fig. 1 Schematic of DIW system Fig. 3 DIW of filament

Carbon Particles

Fig. 2 DIW apparatus

DIW is shown in Fig. 2. Conductive carbon paste bought Fig. 4 SEM image of conductive carbon paste
from Guangzhou Print Area Trading Co., Ltd having vis-
cosity of 3500 cps is used for patterns generation. No
modification is done in ink rheology and used as received.
Figure 3 shows dispensing of material through the nozzle
to generate patterns. Figure 4 shows the SEM image of
conductive carbon paste, showing carbon particles at 5 lm
scale. Average size of carbon particle paste is 15 lm. As
shown in Fig. 5 of EDS spectrum, carbon has higher con-
centration in paste due to its high peak energy value.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Parameters optimization by Taguchi method

It is important to optimize printing parameters to achieve
better quality and control resolution of patterns. Taguchi
method, a design optimization technique, is adopted to find
optimal control parameters for printing. The method uses
special orthogonal array design to study parameters with
limited experimental runs. The results obtained from
experimental runs are converted to signal-to-noise ratio (S/
N ratio). S/N ratio is used to measure quality characteristics
Fig. 5 EDX spectrum of carbon paste
by analyzing deviation from target values. Depending on
the goal of experiment, there are three categories of S/N
ratio, i.e., larger is better, nominal is best, and smaller is
better. Each level of control parameters is computed based
on S/N analysis. Irrespective of categories, larger S/N ratio
corresponds to better quality characteristics. So the optimal

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level of control parameter is the level with highest S/N
ratio. Moreover, to identify the significant control param-
eter, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) is also performed.
Lastly, experimental runs are conducted to validate the
optimal control parameters from the parameter design.
Controlling parameters selected for the present study are
air pressure, feed rate and standoff distance, while the per-
formance measure is the width of pattern. Air pressure is an
important parameter to control during the dispensing pro-
cess. It directly affects the flow rate of material through
nozzle tip [27]. The feed rate is the distance by which the
table carrying substrate moves during dispensing of material.
It greatly affects continuity of patterns as well as pattern
width [27]. Standoff distance is the distance between nozzle
Table 1 Factor level for experiments of 200-lm nozzle
Factors Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Pressure (P) (psi) 70 80 90
Feed rate (F) (mm/s) 0.5 1 1.5
Standoff distance (S) (mm) 0.4 0.6 0.8
tip and substrate. If the nozzle is too close to the substrate, it
will affect substrate surface as well as reduce the flow rate of
ink. If the distance of nozzle is too high, then it will be
difficult to achieve continuous patterns because of the
breakup of the ink due to surface tension [32].
Three experimental levels are set for each control param-
eter as shown in Table 1. Taguchi L27 orthogonal array is
designed in the present study as depicted in Table 2. Since we
want to achieve minimum width patterns, we selected signal-
to-noise (S/N) ratio based on ‘‘smaller the better’’ for analysis.
For each experimental runs, widths of patterns generated were
calculated using an optical microscope. All experiments were
conducted on 200-lm nozzle using conductive carbon paste
and PET substrate. The patterns generated were cured at
130 C for 20 min in a dry oven.
S/N ratio obtained for experimental runs is shown in
Table 2. In Taguchi technique, the word ‘signal’ exem-
plifies desirable value (mean), while ‘noise’ exemplifies
undesirable value (standard deviation) for performance
measure. Therefore, S/N ratio signifies the amount of
variation present in performance measure. As the main

Table 2 Experimental design

Run Pressure (psi) Feed rate (mm/s) Standoff distance (mm) Width (lm) S/N ratio
with L27 orthogonal array and
S/N ratio 1 70 0.5 0.4 254 -48.097
2 70 0.5 0.6 252 -48.028
3 70 0.5 0.8 257 -48.199
4 70 1 0.4 259 -48.266
5 70 1 0.6 261 -48.333
6 70 1 0.8 264 -48.432
7 70 1.5 0.4 255 -48.131
8 70 1.5 0.6 260 -48.299
9 70 1.5 0.8 262 -48.366
10 80 0.5 0.4 270 -48.627
11 80 0.5 0.6 274 -48.755
12 80 0.5 0.8 276 -48.818
13 80 1 0.4 278 -48.881
14 80 1 0.6 280 -48.943
15 80 1 0.8 282 -49.005
16 80 1.5 0.4 254 -48.097
17 80 1.5 0.6 256 -48.165
18 80 1.5 0.8 259 -48.266
19 90 0.5 0.4 285 -49.097
20 90 0.5 0.6 287 -49.158
21 90 0.5 0.8 289 -49.218
22 90 1 0.4 259 -48.266
23 90 1 0.6 261 -48.333
24 90 1 0.8 263 -48.399
25 90 1.5 0.4 252 -48.028
26 90 1.5 0.6 254 -48.097
27 90 1.5 0.8 256 -48.165

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Table 3 S/N ratio for width of pattern Table 5 Conformation test for width of pattern
Levels Pressure (psi) Feed rate (mm/s) Standoff distance (mm) Initial control parameters Optimal parameters

1 -48.24 -48.67 -48.39 Prediction Experiment

2 -48.62 -48.54 -48.46 Levels 2-2-2 1-3-1 1-3-1
3 -48.53 -48.18 -48.54 Width (lm) 280 250.12 252.54
Delta 0.38 0.49 0.15 S/N ratio -48.94 -46.01 -47.15

Pressure (psi) Feed rate (mm/s) Standoff distance (mm)

standoff distance is insignificant. Feed rate has higher
-48.2 percentage contribution as compared to pressure; hence, it
is highly significant to width of pattern. The interaction
-48.3
terms are ignored for the study.
Mean of SN ratios

A conformation test is conducted to verify and predict

-48.4
-48.5
-48.6
-48.7
70 80 90 0.5
Fig. 6 S/N ratio graph for width of pattern
objective is to optimize performance measure, i.e., width of
pattern, therefore ‘smaller the better’-type S/N ratio is
applied to design as smaller values of width patterns are
desirable. Irrespective of S/N ratio type, larger values of
S/N ratio correspond to good quality characteristic of
performance measure. So the optimal printing parameters
are pressure at Level 1, i.e., 70 psi, feed rate at Level 3, i.e.,
1.5 mm/s while standoff distance at Level 1, i.e., 0.4 mm,
due to their higher S/N ratio as shown in Table 3 and main
effect plot in Fig. 6.
ANOVA test is conducted to study influence of control
parameters on performance measure. The results are sum-
marized in Table 4. F test value for control parameters
greater than 4 shows a significant effect on quality char-
acteristic of performance measure. So pressure and feed
rate have a significant effect on width of pattern, while
optimal control parameters performance. Table 5 shows
the comparison of predicted and experimental values of
width of patterns. It is observed that there is a good
agreement between predicted width and actual width of
pattern. As there is an increase in S/N ratio from initial
control parameters to optimal control parameters, therefore
this means the quality of performance measure, i.e., width
of pattern, is improved.
1.0 1.5 0.4 0.6 0.8
3.2 Electrical characterization of flex sensor
Electrical characterization of flex sensor is done at different
bending angles by using self-designed bending system as
shown in Figs. 7 and 8. One side of the bending system is
fixed, while the other side is movable. PET substrate
containing patterns is fixed to fixed side as well as to
movable side, so when sliding it in inward direction, pat-
terns on PET substrate form bending angle as depict in
Figs. 7 and 8. The bending angle is approximately mea-
sured by using a protractor.
Two samples of sensors of different length are prepared
having length to width dimensions of 5 9 2 and 3 9 1 cm
as shown in Fig. 9a–c shows schematic of sensor. Carbon
paste is directly patterned on PET substrate and protected
by PET covering layer while electrode connection is made
of silver paste. Figure 9d depicts flexibility of sensor.
I–V characteristic of two sensors of different length after
first and 100 cycles of bending is shown in Fig. 10. The

Table 4 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for width of pattern

Source Degree of freedom Sum of squares Mean square F Percentage contribution

Pressure (psi) 2 1.1494 0.5747 4.1 30.9

Feed rate (mm/s) 2 1.7614 0.8807 6.53 47.3
Standoff distance (mm) 2 0.7055 0.35275 0.6 18.9
Residual error 8 0.1059 0.05295 2.8
Total 26 3.7222 100

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Fig. 7 Fixture for bending of PET substrate
PET substrate
Bending
Protractor
Fig. 8 Actual bending fixture
Fig. 9 a Flex sensor of dimension 5 9 2 cm, b 3 9 1 cm,
c schematic designed sensor, d sensor when flexed
two flex sensor shows good stability because two curves
obtained for each sample of sensor are closer after first and
100 cycle of bending. The current approximately increases
linearly with increase in DC voltage for the two sensors.
This shows good ohmic behavior of sensors, which is
important for its use as flex sensor. As dimensions of
sensor increase from 3 9 1 to 5 9 2 cm, the curve moves
downward due to increase in overall resistance.
123
M. Abas, K. Rahman
Fig. 10 I–V curve for two flex sensors after first and 100 cycle of
bending
Fig. 11 SEM image of pattern showing micro-cracks after 100
bending cycle
Figure 12 shows resistive response of two flex sensor at
different bending angles after the first and 100 cycle of
bending. When the bending angle of flex sensor increases
from 08 to 908 with 188 incremental increase, the resistance
increases exponentially due to formation of micro-cracks
as shown in Fig. 11. The micro-cracks tend to separate
upon bending which results in an increase in resistance. As
there is low hysteresis in resistance curve of two sensors
for the first and 100 cycle of bending as shown in Fig. 12, it
shows good stability and repeatability of sensors. Overall
change in resistance for 3 9 1 cm sensor upon bending
from 0 to 90 observed is 5–17 kX, while for 5 9 2 cm
sensor resistance change observed is 6.6–26.5 kX.
Figure 13 shows that the sensor shows an immediate
and repeatable response, when flexed at different bending
angles. On average for all bending angles, the flexing time
and relaxation time are about 2.5 s for sensor having
Fabrication of flex sensors through direct ink write technique and its electrical… Page 7 of 8 972

from 18 to 90 as shown in Fig. 13. So based on this

analysis, the two sensors are good for flexion sensor as well
as for other flexible electronic application.

4 Conclusions

Direct ink write technique, one of additive manufacturing

processes, allows fabrication of different types of flexible
electronic devices. In the present work, printing parameters of
designed DIW system are optimized through Taguchi design
optimization technique. Printing parameters studied were air
pressure, feed rate and standoff distance, while output per-
formance measure is width of pattern. Optimal printing
parameters are pressure of 70 psi, feed rate of 1.5 mm/s and
standoff distance of 0.4 mm. Minimum width of pattern
achieved was 251–253 lm under control optimal parameters.
Through ANOVA, it is found that feed rate and pressure have
Fig. 12 Comparison of resistance for 2 samples with respect to
bending after first and 100 cycle of bending
significant effect on width of pattern. Finally, patterns for flex
sensor were generated on flexible PET substrate from con-
ductive carbon paste. Through I–V characteristic analysis, it is
found that the fabricated sensors are stable in performance and
give repeatable results when subjected to different angles
ranging from minimum of 0 to maximum of 90.

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