Abstract
In this work, a sensor yarn based on a natural sisal yarn containing a non-electro-conductive core impregnated with PVA polymer and coated by PEDOT:PSS polymer as an electro-conductive sheath was investigated. The main objectives include the development of this new sensor yarn as a first step. Then, we look towards the insertion of this sensor yarn into different woven structures followed by the monitoring of the mechanical behaviour of composite materials made with these fibrous reinforcements. The combined effect of the structural geometry and the number of PEDOT:PSS coating layers on the properties of the sensor yarns was investigated. It was found that the number of PEDOT:PSS coating layers could strongly influence the electromechanical behaviours of the sensor yarns. Different methods of characterization were employed on strain-sensor yarns with two and four coating layers of PEDOT:PSS. The piezo-resistive strain-sensor properties of these selected coating layers were evaluated. Cyclic stretching-releasing tests were also performed to investigate the dynamic strain-sensing behavior. The obtained results indicated that gauge factor values can be extracted in three strain regions for two and four coating layers, respectively. Moreover, these strain-sensor yarns showed accurate and stable sensor responses under cyclic conditions. Furthers works are in progress to investigate the mechanism behind these first results of these sisal fibre-based sensors.
Highlights
There exists an actual and forthcoming demand of “green composites”, due to increasing environmental aims to replace oil-dependent resource components with natural fibres for the generation of composite materials [1]
A sensor yarn based on a Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-coated sisal natural fibre utilizing PEDOT:PSS as electro-conductive sheath has been developed
These sensor yarns have been manufactured by using a coating technique, which has revealed several advantages, such as the simplicity to implement and the capacity to adjust, at low cost, the various electromechanical properties by adjusting the number of coated layers of PEDOT:PSS on the sisal yarn
Summary
There exists an actual and forthcoming demand of “green composites”, due to increasing environmental aims to replace oil-dependent resource components with natural fibres for the generation of composite materials [1]. The natural fibrous reinforcement of composite materials is often based on fabric structures (2D and 3D) made with bio-based yarns [2]. The use of natural fibres is widely becoming the subject of a large number of studies [5]. Among all of these studies, Corbin et al [6]. Have developed a quasi-unidirectional woven fabric, based on hemp fibres impregnated with derivative sugar-based resin to produce a 100% bio-based composite material. The result of this research work has highlighted the relative higher performance of hemp-based reinforcements compared to commercial flax-based reinforcements in terms of rigidities
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