Thin film thermo-mechanical sensors embedded in metallic structures

The embedding of thin film thermo-mechanical sensors in structures such as tools is of great interest to the manufacturing industry. We present the first results of our experiments to produce thin film thermocouples and strain sensors enclosed in metallic macroscopic structures using a layered manufacturing technique (Shape Deposition Manufacturing). The issues to be addressed are the electrical insulation of the sensors, the thermo-mechanical integrity of the resulting thin film multilayer and its compatibility with the high temperature process of embedding.