Experimental investigation into the sensitivity of elastically coated piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride films to an impact force

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on the effect of an elastic coating on the sensitivity to an impact force on a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film by using a model consisting of a top mass, a coated/uncoated PVDF film, and a base block. The sensitivity of the PVDF film is determined by measuring the voltage outputs from the PVDF film and an impact hammer, which is used to excite the top mass. The effects of the constraints at the top and bottom surfaces of an uncoated PVDF film on the sensitivity are examined first. Experimentally, the shear-free and perfectly bonded constraints are approximated by applying oil and epoxy glue to the interfaces between the PVDF film and the top mass/base block. The sensitivities of the PVDF film for these two constraints are determined analytically, thus explaining the roles of the stress components in the thickness and in-plane directions of the film in generating the voltage outputs. The approximated shear-free boundary condition using oil at the interface allows an experimental determination of the piezoelectric voltage constant of the PVDF film in the poling direction. Rubber and polyurethane are used for constructing the coated PVDF films. Even a thin layer of elastic coating is capable of significantly increasing the sensitivity of the PVDF film. For example, 3 mm rubber layers allow a 27 dB increase in the low-frequency sensitivity. A system including an elastically coated PVDF film provides an additional 10 dB increase at frequencies close to its first resonance frequency, resulting in a total 37 dB increase in the system sensitivity. The increased sensitivity may be explained as being due to the increased shear force between the elastic material and PVDF film as the thickness of the elastic layer increases. The dominating effect of the shear force is illustrated by the experimental and finite-element analysis as the thickness of the rubber coating gradually increases. The high rate of increase of the sensitivity as a function of rubber thickness can be observed when the thickness is under 0.8 mm.