title: Experimental and numerical estimations into the force distribution on an occlusal surface utilizing a flexible force sensor array.
abstract: This study presents a novel flexible force sensor array for measuring the distribution of the force distribution over the first molar. The developed force sensor array is composed of a flexible polyimide electrode and barium-titanate-based multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). The piezoelectric and material properties of industrial-grade MLCCs are ideal for measuring large-force loadings. The sensors are cheap and easy to integrate with automated manufacturing processes. Prior to experimental measurements, the force responses for the MLCC sensor cells were systematically measured and evaluated, confirming their high fracture strength and good sensing properties. Finite element (FE) simulations were used to calculate the force distribution over the tooth crown from the measurement results of the 3×3 force sensor array. Results indicate that the sensor has great sensitivity and linearity under a high-speed cycle loading of 500 N/s conducted to simulate normal chewing. The total force measured using the developed sensor array within the artificial tooth had an error of less than 5%. In addition, the force distributions over the molar crown obtained using a numerical method of FE analysis agree well with those obtained from experiments. The developed flexible force sensor array thus has potential for in-situ bite force measurements that are low-cost and reliable.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1 University Road, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Keng-Ren
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chih-Han
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Tzu-Hsuan
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shi-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Che-Hsin
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D001732:Bite Force; D002516:Ceramics; D019295:Computational Biology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008409:Mastication; D008422:Materials Testing; D011312:Pressure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014070:Tooth / Q000502:physiology*; D019228:Tooth Crown / Q000737:chemistry