Surface Integrated Printed Interdigital Structure for Process Monitoring the Curing of an Adhesive Joint

Abstract

We present a printable interdigital structure, integrated into the surface of a component, to monitor the curing of two adhesively joint components during the fabrication process. In the factory of the future there is a need of new sensor concepts beside the information technological infrastructure. Monitoring of the fabrication enables automated control of the process which improves the quality of adhesive joints. In addition, the cost can be reduced by individually adapted curing times. We demonstrate that cure monitoring with the printed interdigital structure is possible. Two adhesives, a fast and a slow curing one, are analyzed to show the high potential of this process monitoring method.

Keywords

• printed sensor
• interdigital structure
• cure monitoring
• impedance spectroscopy
• factory of the future