Hybrid piezoelectric-magnetic, self-sensing actuator for vibration damping

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive soft actuators can actuate from an external stimulus. Compared to traditional actuators, these soft actuators offer advantages such as flexibility, conformability, better biomimicking ability, lower cost, and higher power to-weight ratio. These advantages are ideal for the vibration damping of transportation vehicles where there is a need for strong and lightweight designs whilst maintaining user comfort to encourage widespread public adoption. Piezoelectric materials are extensively used as sensors and actuators due to its piezoelectric property, and magnetic actuation is known for its accurate control. The current study investigates the development of a nanocomposite that can exhibit both piezoelectric and magnetic effects in terms of sensing and actuation, respectively. To achieve this, iron (III) oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles were attached to the surfaces of functionalized single walled carbon nanotubes (f-CNT), and the resulting nanofiller was embedded into a PVDF matrix. The Fe3O4 will provide magnetic actuation while the SWCNT will enhance the sensing performance of PVDF through its piezoelectric property. The proposed Fe3O4/f-CNT/PVDF showed effective vibration sensing and damping of excessive vibration on next generation of transportation vehicles for enhanced human safety and comfort. This research will assist in advancing multi stimuli-responsive materials and improve functionality and commerciality of soft smart material devices.

Experimental Study of Wheel-to-Rail Interaction Using Acceleration Sensors for Continuous Rail Transport Comfort Evaluation

“…The electronic sensors used for acceleration measuring can be of the piezoelectric type [14,15], one-direction sensors [16], or the newest three-axis accelerometers with micromechanical (MEM) technology, a sensor that eliminates the need for selection, qualification, and system-level integration of discrete devices. The study [17] investigates the development of a nanocomposite that can exhibit both piezoelectric and magnetic effects in sensing and actuation, respectively.…”