Experimental Investigation of the Cross-Sensitivity and Size Effects of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Film Sensors on Modal Testing

Sensors

Kuo-Chih Chuang¹  Chien-Ching Ma² 

[1] School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Institute of Applied Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; E-Mail:;Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; E-Mail:

关键词: PVDF film sensor;    cantilever beam;    cross-sensitivity;    size effect;    transient response;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s121216641

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Due to advantages such as light weight, flexibility, and low cost, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films have been widely used in engineering applications as sensors for detecting strain, pressure, or micro-force. However, it is known that PVDF strain sensors have strain cross-sensitivity in mutually orthogonal directions. Furthermore, the size of the PVDF film sensor would also affect the dynamic strain sensing performance. In this paper, to investigate the cross-sensitivity and size effects experimentally, we employ PVDF film sensors to perform dynamic measurements on a cantilever beam. Since the vibrations of the cantilever beam are excited by impacts of a steel ball, the induced highly repeatable transient responses contain a wide range of resonant frequencies and thus can be used to investigate both the size and cross-sensitivity effects of the PVDF film sensors in a dynamic sensing environment. Based on the experimental results of the identified resonant frequencies compared with results obtained from a strain gauge, finite element calculations, and theoretical predictions, suggestions for the use of the PVDF strain sensor in modal testing are given in this paper.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland