Novel Linear Piezo‐resistive Auxetic Meta‐Sensors with Low Young's Modulus by a Core–Shell Conceptual Design and Electromechanical Modelling

Abstract

AbstractProduction of piezo‐resistive auxetic sensors is usually carried out through mixing and coating methods. Although these methods are beneficial, Young's modulus of mixed sensors becomes high because of using a high percentage of sensing elements while the durability of coated sensors gets low due to the separation of sensing elements from the sensor surface. This article presents a new core–shell metamaterial model to address the mentioned problems. The shell and the core are produced of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber and a mixture of PDMS/graphite powders (73.45 wt% graphite powders), respectively. A finite element model is developed via COMSOL software to predict the electromechanical behaviors of the created sensor and verified by an experimental study. Scanning electron microscope imaging is conducted to detect the separations of the graphite particles. The main important feature of this meta‐sensor is to possess a linear sensitivity due to having zero Poisson's ratio. The advantage of this method is that Young's modulus of the sensor does not decrease (unlike the mixing method), and the sensor‐coated particles do not separate from the sensor after a while (unlike the coating method). The introduced model has advantages that promote potential applications such as using sensory gloves to detect, for instance, human hand movements.