Since the last five decades, polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) are in use and envisaged for a variety of applications. The transition of a precursor to an inorganic ceramic by pyrolysis and heat-treatment results in either amorphous or nanocrystalline composites with the evolution of phases strongly controlled by the processing conditions. Understanding the deformation behaviour under ambient conditions and at elevated temperatures is key to designing these materials for long-term use. However, quantitative reliable estimation of mechanical properties is quite challenging due to its unique structure which in turn is strongly governed by the precursor chemistry. The mechanical behaviour of PDCs in the form of fibres, bulk and foams are different and they are discussed separately. Both experimental and simulation-based studies are considered in this review. Recently, additive manufacturing processes have been used for the fabrication of PDCs, the mechanical properties of which are also included in this review.

Flexible electronics is a rapidly growing technology for a multitude of applications. Wearables and flexible displays are some application examples. Various technologies and processes are used to produce flexible electronics. An important aspect to be considered when developing these systems is their reliability, especially with regard to repeated bending. In this paper, the frequently used methods for investigating the bending reliability of flexible electronics are presented. This is done to provide an overview of the types of tests that can be performed to investigate the bending reliability. Furthermore, it is shown which devices are developed and optimized to gain more knowledge about the behavior of flexible systems under bending. Both static and dynamic bending test methods are presented.

Polymer optics have gained increasing importance in recent years. With advancing requirements for the optical components, the fabrication process remains a challenge. In particular, the fabrication of the mold inserts for the replication process is crucial for obtaining high-quality optical components. This review focuses on fabrication technologies for optical mold inserts. Thereby, two main types of technologies can be distinguished: fabrication methods to create mold inserts with optical surface quality and methods to create optical microstructures. Since optical mold inserts usually require outstanding form accuracies and surface qualities, a focus is placed on these factors. This review aims to give an overview of available methods as well as support the selection process when a fabrication technology is needed for a defined application. Furthermore, references are given to detailed descriptions of each technology if a deeper understanding of the processes is required.

Inkjet technology as a maskless, direct-writing technology offers the potential for structured deposition of functional materials for the realization of electrodes for, e.g., sensing applications. In this work, electrodes were realized by inkjet-printing of commercial nanoparticle gold ink on planar substrates and, for the first time, onto the 2.5D surfaces of a 0.5 mm-deep microfluidic chamber produced in cyclic olefin copolymer (COC). The challenges of a poor wetting behavior and a low process temperature of the COC used were solved by a pretreatment with oxygen plasma and the combination of thermal (130 °C for 1 h) and photonic (955 mJ/cm²) steps for sintering. By performing the photonic curing, the resistance could be reduced by about 50% to 22.7 µΩ cm. The printed gold structures were mechanically stable (optimal cross-cut value) and porous (roughness factors between 8.6 and 24.4 for 3 and 9 inkjet-printed layers, respectively). Thiolated DNA probes were immobilized throughout the porous structure without the necessity of a surface activation step. Hybridization of labeled DNA probes resulted in specific signals comparable to signals on commercial screen-printed electrodes and could be reproduced after regeneration. The process described may facilitate the integration of electrodes in 2.5D lab-on-a-chip systems.

This paper describes the characterization of inkjet-printed resistive temperature sensors according to the international standard IEC 61928-2. The goal is to evaluate such sensors comprehensively, to identify important manufacturing processes, and to generate data for inkjet-printed temperature sensors according to the mentioned standard for the first time, which will enable future comparisons across different publications. Temperature sensors were printed with a silver nanoparticle ink on injection-molded parts. After printing, the sensors were sintered with different parameters to investigate their influences on the performance. Temperature sensors were characterized in a temperature range from 10 °C to 85 °C at 60% RH. It turned out that the highest tested sintering temperature of 200 °C, the longest dwell time of 24 h, and a coating with fluoropolymer resulted in the best sensor properties, which are a high temperature coefficient of resistance, low hysteresis, low non-repeatability, and low maximum error. The determined hysteresis, non-repeatability, and maximum error are below 1.4% of the full-scale output (FSO), and the temperature coefficient of resistance is 1.23–1.31 × 10⁻³ K⁻¹. These results show that inkjet printing is a capable technology for the manufacturing of temperature sensors for applications up to 85 °C, such as lab-on-a-chip devices.

A novel optical incremental and absolute encoder based on an optical application-specific integrated circuit (opto-ASIC) and an encoder disc carrying micro manufactured structures is presented. The physical basis of the encoder is the diffraction of light using a reflective phase grating. The opto-ASIC contains a ring of photodiodes that represents the encryption of the encoder. It also includes the analog signal conditioning, the signal acquisition, and the control of a light source, as well as the digital position processing. The development and fabrication of the opto-ASIC is also described in this work. A laser diode was assembled in the center on top of the opto-ASIC, together with a micro manufactured polymer lens. The latter was fabricated using ultra-precision machining. The encoder disc was fabricated using micro injection molding and contains micro structures forming a blazed grating. This way, a 10-bit optical encoder with a form factor of only 1 cm³ was realized and tested successfully.