Development of Flexible Cotton-Polystyrene Sensor for Application as Strain Gauge

This study aims at developing the screen-printed sensors as a viable means of depositing sensing tracks on composites for their on-line structural health monitoring. Conventional silk screen was employed in order to deposit a nano-composite solution comprising of a conductive nano-filler (carbon nano-particles) dispersed in a thermoplastic matrix (high density polystyrene) on laminated composite specimens. The solution was deposited using a squeegee and was allowed to dry. Commercially available metal foil strain gauges were also bonded alongside screen-printed sensor in order to compare the response of the screen-printed sensors with the commercially available strain gauges. The sensing ability of these screen-printed sensors was tested on a universal testing machine (MTS 810) in four-point bending configuration using a load cell of 100 kN. The sensor deposited using screen-printing technique underwent tensile loading at the lower side of the laminate. A data linearization and amplification module comprising of commercially available instrumentation amplifier (INA 118) was used in conjunction with data acquisition module (Keithley KUSB 3100). The results obtained show that the screen-printed sensors have higher gauge factors in tensile loading scenario with reasonably linear response as compared to traditional metal foil strain gauges. The ease of the deposition of a nano-composite solution via screen printing also makes the technique a viable alternative to the traditional resin bonded metal foil strain gauges which have to be bonded on the surface. Moreover, screen printing offers unlimited options for the development of smart composites in various configurations for a multitude of structural applications.

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“…This concentration lies in the percolation threshold found for these particles through extensive investigations reported elsewhere. 15,43–47…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This concentration lies in the percolation threshold found for these particles through extensive investigations reported elsewhere. 15,[43][44][45][46][47] Polystyrene was weighed and heated in a vacuum oven in order to remove moisture. Requisite amount of carbon nano-particles were also weighed and added to nitro benzene.…”

Section: Smart Nano-compositementioning

confidence: 99%

On the in-situ on-line structural health monitoring of composites using screen-printed sensors

Nauman

Asfar²,

Ahmed

et al. 2021

Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials

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“…These can be nanoscale or microscale fillers. Microscale fillers are in the form of graphite powder or chopped carbon fibers whereas nanoscale carbonaceous fillers range from 0D such as carbon nanoparticles [65][66][67][68][69] and fullerenes [70,71] to 1D such as carbon nanotubes [72][73][74] and nanofibers [75,76] to 2D such as graphene nanoplatelets [77,78], which are in planar configurations. These fillers are characterized by their exceptional conductivities owing to the graphitic structure at a microscale and peculiar charge transport mechanism at the nanoscale.…”

Section: Carbonaceous Fillersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piezoresistive Sensing Approaches for Structural Health Monitoring of Polymer Composites—A Review

Nauman

2021

Eng

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Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an emerging paradigm of real-time in situ structural evaluation for the detection of damage and structural degradation. This is achieved while the structure is kept in-service as against traditional non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques which require scheduled interventions while the structure is kept offline. SHM offers great advantages over traditional regimens of condition monitoring (CM) by improving structural reliability and safety through timely detection of structural defects also known as “diagnosis”. Polymeric composite materials offer the unique opportunity of integrating different phases for designing self-sensing smart systems capable of self-diagnosis. Polymers are unique in the sense that they can be designed in various configurations as they generally have facile manufacturing procedures. Among other properties, piezoresistance is the one that can be detected in composites in real-time as a function of strain. Conductive polymers including intrinsic and extrinsic conductive polymers can be used to induce piezoresistivity in composites. Careful design procedures can be adopted to maximize the sensitivity of these piezoresistive composites in order to fully exploit the potential of this property for SHM. Various manufacturing/integration strategies can be employed to effectively use piezoresistance in composites for structural health monitoring. These include self-sensing in carbon fiber-reinforced composites, use of surface deposited/mounted sensing films and patterns, integration of filaments and yarns during reinforcement manufacturing or lay-up and impregnation of reinforcements with piezoresistive matrices. A comprehensive review of these techniques is presented with the view of their utility in the SHM of composites. A selection criterion for these techniques is also presented based on sensitivity, manufacturing method and detection capability.

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“…Asfar et al [54] have reported an innovative extru-coating method for developing thread sensors coated with conductive polymer composite (CPC) solution. Carbon nanoparticles (Printex-L6) were dispersed in thermoplastic polystyrene matrix using ultrasonic disperser.…”

Section: Micro-scale Integration -Extru-coated Composite Thread Sensor For Strain Sensing Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanocomposite sensors for smart textile composites

Nauman

Lubineau

2021

Nanosensors and Nanodevices for Smart Multifunctional Textiles

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Development of Flexible Cotton-Polystyrene Sensor for Application as Strain Gauge

Cited by 8 publications

References 45 publications

On the in-situ on-line structural health monitoring of composites using screen-printed sensors

On the in-situ on-line structural health monitoring of composites using screen-printed sensors

Piezoresistive Sensing Approaches for Structural Health Monitoring of Polymer Composites—A Review

Nanocomposite sensors for smart textile composites

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