Laser induced metallization on flexible polymer coating: Analysis and application

This paper describes the evaluation of an advanced substrate designed with a newly developed flexible polymeric material by spray coating, for use in an innovative additive laser structuring process, called Laser Induced Metallization (LIM). The evaluation was conducted by studying the feasibility to produce components with the LIM process and the relationship between the laser processing parameters and the copper thickness obtained after the electroless plating. The flexible polymeric material exhibited a positive response to the LIM process, allowing the process to achieve promising results in terms of copper thickness, electric resistance, and the mechanical properties of the polymeric material after the laser structuring. However, the workable range of the laser processing parameters is narrow. An experimental study was performed, where the LIM process was used to fabricate conductors for measuring resistance and capacitance variations in electric circuits for the creation of an insole sensor that can be used to monitor the behavior of a human foot under walking or other gaiting loads.