A facile approach to fabricate flexible capacitance sensor based onSpatial Confining Forced Network Assemblymethod for detecting and analyzing large deformation of damping rubber

Abstract

AbstractEfficiently estimating the aging status of rubber damping is indispensable in the transport system. Herein, we developed a facile approach to fabricate flexible capacitance sensors that can bear high loads, large deformations, and long cycle life. The sensor has a sandwich structure, including electrode layer, the dielectric layer, and encapsulation layer. In this approach, the spatial confining forced network assembly method was used to fabricate the electrode layer of the sensor and a novel injection mold process was used to form the encapsulation layer of the sensor. This flexible capacitive sensor can detect the cyclic loading of damping rubber springs as high as 0‐60 kN under load frequency of 3 Hz with a sensitivity of 30 PF/KN, bear up to maximum 58% deformation and cycling stability over 50,000 cycle. Furthermore, a modified aging status prediction model for damping rubber springs based on the signal of sensor is proposed. The real‐time working state and aging state of the rubber spring can be monitored through the measurement signal of the sensor.