An arc-shaped polyvinylidene fluoride/ionic polymer metalcomposite dynamic curvature sensor with contact detection andscanning ability

摘要

This paper presents a novel flexible dynamic curvature sensor with contact sensing functionality. The sen-sor is fabricated from a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film and integrated into an actuatorfabricated from an ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC), which allows the curvature/contact-detectionof various curved targets in direct contact with the device, and the curvature-sensing mechanism canalso perform a scanning motion by using the electrically controlled IPMC actuator. This polymer-basedsensor can detect large curvature changes and can dynamically sense any variations in curvature as afunction of time. Moreover, the embedded contact function of the curvature sensor can monitor whetherthe target contacts a specific point of the sensor. This text details the device design, working principle,fabrication process, and testing procedure. The results show that more than 200% curvature change canbe detected based on the fabricated device with a curvature radius of 6 mm. The contact function is ver-ified by a 20% voltage amplitude increase, and the sensing mechanism scans a range of 2.7 mm with the5 mm long handle portion of the IPMC actuator driven by a voltage of 8 V. The developed device couldbe applied to a dexterous robot for monitoring the changes in shape of a substance, or to a catheter formedical applications.