Temperature-compensation of 3D-printed polymer-based strain gauges

Demetris Coleman; Mohammed Al-Rubaiai; Xiaobo Tan

doi:10.1117/12.2513813

29 March 2019 Temperature-compensation of 3D-printed polymer-based strain gauges

Demetris Coleman, Mohammed Al-Rubaiai, Xiaobo Tan

Proceedings Volume 10968, Behavior and Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials XIII; 109680M (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2513813
Event: SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation, 2019, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

With the advent of 3D printing and the increasing list of available materials, various functional devices can be printed for low-cost, rapid prototyping. In particular, 3D-printed strain gauges show promise in multiple applications such as robotics and structural health monitoring. However, characterization and compensation of the thermal dependence of such strain gauges have been limited in the literature. In this work the temperaturedependent resistive behavior is characterized for strain gauges printed with a commercially available filament, conductive PLA (Polylactic Acid), which has also shown other desirable uses such as stiffness-tuning for soft robots. The relationship between temperature and resistance is shown to be hysteretic. Several compensation methods (Temperature-based algebraic subtraction, Material-based algebraic subtraction, and a Wheatstone bridge-based method) are explored to mitigate the effect of temperature and show the material’s feasibility as a strain gauge. The compensation methods are quantitatively compared by calculating the mean squared error between the predicted and the ground truth strain values. It is shown that the Wheatstone bridge-based method provides the best compensation. This method achieves average errors of less than 10% and a maximum error less than 20% over a working range of approximately 15,000 microstrain (0.15% strain) over a range 30 to 40°C.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Demetris Coleman, Mohammed Al-Rubaiai, and Xiaobo Tan "Temperature-compensation of 3D-printed polymer-based strain gauges", Proc. SPIE 10968, Behavior and Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials XIII, 109680M (29 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2513813

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