Preliminary Characterization of a Novel Aerosol Jet-Printed Strain Sensor for Feasibility Assessment in a Variable Stiffness Arterial Simulator Application

Abstract

Wearable strain sensors are widespread in many fields, including the biomedical field where they are used for their stretchability and ability to be applied to non-regular surfaces. The study of the propagation speed of the pressure wave generated by the heartbeat within vessels, i.e., the Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), is of significant relevance in this field to assess arterial stiffness, a parameter commonly used for the early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. In this context, arterial simulators are useful tools to study the relationship between the PWV and other hemodynamic quantities in vitro. This study aims to characterize novel strain sensors to assess their suitability within an arterial simulator capable of varying the stiffness of an arterial surrogate by varying the transmural pressure. Six sensors deposited on arterial surrogates by Aerosol Jet Printing technology were subjected to deformation through a load frame. The results show that the sensors were able to distinguish strains of 0.1%, the maximum strain was around 6–8%, and the fatigue strength depended strongly on the strain rate.