This work reports on the hysteresis behavior and an initial baseline drift of printed strain gauges embedded in organic coating layers on sheet steel that we recently introduced. We subsequently investigated the performance over an extended period of time, which revealed interesting and partially unexpected material properties of printed strain gauges made from silver and carbon. Both silver- and carbon-based strain gauges show a hysteresis behavior of the gauge factor and non-negligible nonlinear characteristics. Furthermore, the carbon-based sensors show a strong initial base line drift within the first 50–100 cycles. All three effects, namely hysteresis, nonlinear gauge factor and initial base line drift, are confirmed within their respective standard deviations.

The paper reports on temperature behavior of strain sensitivity of recently introduced screen printing technology facilitating the realization of silver and carbon black piezoresistors embedded in organic coatings. Piezoresistive layers were prepared by screen printing directly on the top of the organic coating. Since no glue or carrying substrates are between the sensitive element and the device under test, the coupling factor is high and the strain is efficiently transferred to the sensing element. The strain induced changes in resistance (piezoresistive effect) are generally lower compared to the changes induced by temperature. The temperature dependence of the sensitivity to strain was investigated utilizing both single element piezoresistors and piezoresistors connected to a Wheatstone bridge. The study analyzes strain-gauges under longitudinal tensile and compressive strain and temperatures up to 80 °C. Screen printed strain gauges can provide reliable and robust strain measurements for coated metallic substrates, the sensor performance is comparable to the conventional solution with glued sensors.

In this work a multi-criteria analysis and an optimization tool were developed, which allows the substitution of fossil-based solvents with bio-based alternatives based on Hansen solubility parameters and various physical parameters, such as the boiling point, evaporation rate, viscosity or wetting behavior. The proof of concept was achieved by formulating two different paints used in coil coatings using the bio-based solvents, and they performed equally as well as their fossil-based counterparts. A potential decrease in CO₂ emissions was determined by a life cycle assessment and cradle-to-grave analysis of bio- and fossil-based solvents, which showed a large sustainability bonus when using solvents based on biomass. The introduced methodology provides initial insights into substituting currently used solvents systematically. Overall, implementing bio-based solvents is a viable drop-in method to decrease the environmental impact of paints and coatings, while maintaining the same performance.