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Explore how printable piezoelectric polymers are changing the field of sensors. With their ability to convert forces, pressures and mechanical waves into electricity, these advanced materials offer more efficient, precise and durable solutions for a wide range of industrial and technological applications, including human-machine interfaces, sensors for sport and health, and structural control. Join us to explore the competitive advantages they bring to your products.

At JOANNEUM RESEARCH, we have built-up comprehensive know-how over the years that enables us to design, develop, and manufacture highly complex sensor systems based on electro-active polymers. Due to our end-to-end system expertise, which covers the entire value chain from device fabrication, bonding, and signal processing to system integration as well as software development, we are offering tailor-made solutions for your specific application. By means of our pilot-line, these highly complex systems can now be realized in a customer-friendly and efficient manner. Our technology can be applied to most versatile surfaces and covers a wide range of applications, including monitoring of industrial production processes (precise pressure distribution measurements; vibration measurements for condition monitoring), surveillance of material conditions in the field of structural health monitoring, as well as recording of vital parameters in healthcare (pulse, respiratory rate, balistocaridogram), amongst others. Furthermore, the system can be used as an innovative energy harvester that autonomously supplies energy to sensor nodes. Together with our partners who specialize in upscaling and mass production, we offer this technology as tailored product solutions across various market segments.

In aviation industry, there exists an increasing demand for structural health monitoring (SHM) of carbon fiber reinforced composite materials (CFRP), which are needed for aerospace structures because of their unique stiffness to weight ratio. The challenge in such a context is to integrate smart systems in composites for lightweight constructions using different sensors without mechanically changing the structural behavior of the host structures (low weight addition and as small as possible stiffness modification). Innovative printing technologies allow the integration of printed sensors in composite parts and components by satisfying these criteria. For this purpose, manufacturing and integration process of sensors in composite parts using printing technologies was investigated. Piezoelectric sensors as well as temperature sensors were deposited directly on composite aeronautics parts representative of the aeronautic industry using screen printing and Aerosol Jet printing technologies. As an architecture network, printed individual sensors can be connected to an overall system.
The great advantage of printing technologies is the possibility to deposit customized sensor structures directly on planar and non-planar surfaces. The usage of printing technologies results in a great accuracy, reliability, and cost reduction also in a later production process. The development of electrical conductive composites allows the deposition of conductive paths between the sensor structures on the part and finally a connection to the power supply unit. This allows for the realization of a complete sensor structure with low added weight and low intrusivity with respect to the host structure. The sensor technology platform itself offers a broad range of variations of piezoelectric sensor candidate architectures into manufacturing process. The printed sensor network consists of several connected piezoelectric sensors, which build a dynamical load and displacement sensitive element. To detect, localize, classify and quantify damage to CFRP parts, composite aeronautic structural elements may be monitored using data from such printed sensors. This innovative sensor technology can thus be used for SHM by providing a complete and continuous observation of the whole system in the aircraft, but also in any other application area having similar requirements.
Printed piezoelectric sensors can be used to detect and monitor structural deformation, damage, or fatigue in aircrafts, helping to ensure the safety and reliability of the aircraft. Furthermore, it can be used to monitor the vibration of aircraft engines, providing early warning of potential issues and helping to prevent costly engine failures. Printed temperature sensors are able to monitor temperature changes even in inaccessible places in engines. Overall, the use of printed piezoelectric sensors in aeronautics can help to improve the safety, efficiency, and performance of aircrafts.

The global trend for smarter devices has led to a surge in the use of electronic functions often represented by printed circuit boards (PCBs), which contribute to about 7% of global electronic waste (E-waste). Printed electronics technology, utilizing low-impact additive manufacturing techniques, offer a promising alternative to conventional PCB processes as presented by multiple life cycle assessments (LCA) studies. These techniques, thanks to their low thermal budget and reduced chemical use, allows the fabrication of PCB on a variety of lower environmental impact substrates such as cellulose based materials. In CEA-Liten, we address the challenges of high-density multilayer printed PCBs by developing a four-metal layer flexible printed PCB with over 100 thru-hole vias and components assembly on both sides. This approach broadens the applications of printed PCBs to consumer electronics markets, promoting more sustainability in electronics manufacturing and addressing its end of life.

Technologically advanced problems demand technically advanced solutions. This session will highlight the capabilities in contract manufacturing and R&D services within the field of printed electronics. Emphasis will be placed on providing customer-tailored solutions, from monitoring temperature in battery stacks to 12m high bioreactors. Leveraging a state-of-the-art technology park, innovative concepts can be transformed into practical, real-world applications. Attendees will gain insights into how cutting-edge capabilities are employed to turn ideas into reality.

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Silver based conductive ink is the backbone of the Printed Electronics. However, volatile silver prices necessitate the development of conductive inks with lower cost underlying Materials. Such an alternative must provide comparable conductivity while ensuring stable conductivity levels over time, and easy processability using conventional printing technologies (i.e.screen printing). Introducing a novel low-cost Saral Copper Ink, this presentation guides you through the high-demand application areas, discusses the benefits and addresses how to overcome challenges.

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Nowadays adhesives are more than just simple fasteners and enable the implementation of new technological concepts. Various industries and a variety of applications are thus offered great growth potential. In the field of sustainable energy generation there are numerous tasks that can be addressed with the help of adhesives. In particular, the potential of novel photovoltaic technologies remains large in view of the increasing demand for alternative energy sources and has a direct influence on the success of the energy transition.Flexible photovoltaic technologies present a significant advancement in the solar energy sector, offering lightweight, adaptable and potentially lower-cost solutions in comparison to traditional rigid solar panels. A critical component of those OPV or perovskite-based systems is the adhesive material, which helps to ensure integrity, efficiency and longevity of the cells. In this talk we will focus on adhesives for encapsulation and electrically conductive adhesives, discussing their respective advantages and limitations in regard of the key requirements as mechanical support, electrical properties and environmental protection.

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Hamamatsu Photonics offers a wide selection of NIR semiconductor lasers along with beam shaping optics for sintering of metal particle based inks in the manufacture of printed electronics. These lasers offer several advantages like high energy efficiency, selective heating of inks, easy power scalability and long lifetimes which make them interesting for end use customers as well as system integrators. Hamamatsu Photonics has also developed process know-how on sintering of metal particle based inks to support prospective customers to test our lasers for sintering and to develop custom solutions.

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New laser induced forward transfer to be used as digital fabrication method for high viscous and big particle in combination with energy efficient laser drying.

The pursuit of a more resource-efficient society is driving digitalization, leading to a rapidly growing need for connected sensors. These sensors typically rely on batteries, necessitating costly maintenance to replace them every few years and contributing to a significant negative environmental impact. By harnessing ambient light, the lifespan of batteries can be extended, and in many cases, make them obsolete. While this concept is straightforward in principle, this new technology comes with integration challenges. With this in mind, a vertically integrated light energy harvesting platform based on state-of-the-art hybrid electronics circumvents many challenges associated with integration complexity and creates a plug & play solution, dubbed the self-charging battery.

Organic Photovoltaics (OPV) is a solar energy technology made from earth-abundant materials and is mass-producible at low cost using Roll-to-Roll (R2R) printing methods. OPV is capable of efficiently harvesting light energy in both indoor and outdoor environments while being lightweight, flexible, and partially transparent, enabling a wide range of applications. The light-harvesting layer, or “active layer” of an OPV device is critically important and consists of a blend of two or more organic semiconductors. Modern active layer materials have achieved power conversion efficiencies of ~20%, demonstrating the potential of this technology for widespread use. For mass production, the synthesis of active layer materials should be scalable, sustainable, and Repeatable. This talk will cover advancements in the scale-up production of our Generation 1 (G1) active layer materials for use in large-format OPV panels. The importance of low batch-to-batch variability for the mass production of organic semiconductors will be discussed, along with preliminary results in printed devices.

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Based on its expertise in nanochemistry, the PRINTUP institute develops customized inks for several applications such as health and environment. Recently, we have developed an innovative grafting method on Ag nanoparticles allowing us the introduction of a wide range of functions on their surface. We have illustrated the potential of this methodology by producing inks with controlled and intense Raman signatures. Such inks have attracted great interest in recent years for their use as security labels in anti-counterfeiting applications. Indeed, they are promising alternatives to luminescent inks, which suffer from several limitations including emission peak overlap, toxicity and photobleaching. To overcome this issue, we develop a new generation of security labels based on silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) functionalized by aryl diazonium salts, carrying various substituents (–NO2, –CN, –CCH) with distinguishable Raman fingerprints. The resulting tags were fully characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis absorption and SERS. Then, they were incorporated into ink formulations to be printed on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrates, using handwriting or inkjet printing.

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Novel dielectric materials that are polymer-nanocomposite based are now available for use in additive manufacturing products. Lightweight and thermoformable, the Wave-Pro material is the next generation dielectric material for a variety of different antenna and space applications. Using the Micropen to direct write patterns on thermoformed shapes has opened the door to a wide range of technology options where bare alumina was unable to compete. The direct printing system, Micropen, is a CAD/CAM driven capillary dispensing tool akin to an ultra- precise micro-dispense gun. If a material is flowable and can be loaded into a syringe, the Micropen can print it onto virtually any surface. It’s a non-contact, additive printing technique that dispenses the precise amount of material needed. This makes it beneficial when using novel, expensive or rare inks. The efficient use of materials and the ease of changing them provides product designers with increased prototype control as well as reducing time-to-market. Direct printing is an ideal way to form many different patterns on 2D substrates giving them superior electrical characteristics. However, the capabilities of the Micropen don’t stop at 2D substrates. Printers have been designed with 5-axis of movement. This allows many different medical device form factors to be printed such as thin, flexible, irregular, and highly three-dimensional shapes. This talk will provide an overview of the Micropen additive dispense integration of the new Wave-Pro material set and custom CMI formulated ink system.

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