Comparative study on strain sensing behavior for electrically conductive fibers

This paper studied the sensing behaviors of three different flexible electrically conductive fibers,i.e.PPy(polypyrrole) coated PA6,Lycra and XLA fibers,under larger deformation.The coating processes were completed by chemical vapor deposition technique.Their sensing behaviors were measured by an Instron mechanical testing system,while the variations of resistances were recorded at the same time.The cross sections of the fibers were observed by means of SEM(scanning electron microscope).The microscopic images of the surface morphology were obtained by a SEM with a mini material tester system,so as to analyze the mechanisms of sensing behavior of the fibers.It is shown that the Lycra and XLA fibers possess very good sensing behavior under larger deformation during monotonic loading.