Strain gauge printed on carbon weave for sensing in carbon fiber reinforced plastics

A new and innovative approach to integrate a printed strain gauge in carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) is presented. Therefore the carbon weave is prepared by locally applying epoxy resin and curing it. Thus a plateau is created on the carbon weave on which a strain gauge is screen printed. Within this step the electrical interconnections are printed too and no cables have to be integrated. The final “sensorial” carbon weave is integrated in a CFRP beam by common prepreg technology. Characterization is done in a three point bending test by bending the CFRP beam and measuring the change in resistance of the strain gauge. It is shown that there is a correlation between the deflection of the beam and the sensor response. The generated data of the strain gauge can be used in applications like condition monitoring or structural health monitoring.