Strain Transduction in Conductor-Modified Polymers

摘要

We present the fabrication and electromechanical characterization of a class of polymeric high-elongation strain sensors. Samples of polydimethylsiloxane were coated with Creative Materials, Inc. 's 123-27 Electrically Conductive Silicone Ink and the resistance behavior was evaluated in uniaxial tensile tests. Large strains (up to 100%) were observed wifti,monotonically increasing resistance changes. A clear, linear trend up to 65% strain dominated the resistance vs. strain behavior then resistance increased non-linearly. Image processing of the film coupled with a finite element conduction simulation indicate the change in resistance is primarily a geometric effect. Both the conduction path and the polydimethylsiloxane substrate break completely around 100% strain. The samples exhibit a gauge factor of approximately 10.