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• Punning, A
• Aabloo, A
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• Punning, A
• Aabloo, A
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• Punning, A
• Aabloo, A

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Sensors 2012, 12(2), 1950-1966; doi:10.3390/s120201950

Article

Electrical Model of a Carbon-Polymer Composite (CPC) Collision Detector

Karl Kruusamäe* , Andres Punning and Alvo Aabloo

IMS Lab, Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 29 December 2011; in revised form: 24 January 2012 / Accepted: 6 February 2012 / Published: 10 February 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimetic Sensors, Actuators and Integrated Systems)

Download PDF Full-Text [2070 KB, uploaded 10 February 2012 14:07 CET]

Abstract: We present a study of an electrical model of electromechanically active carbon-polymer composite (CPC) with carbide-derived carbon (CDC) electrodes. The major focus is on investigation of surface electrode behavior upon external bending of the material. We show that electrical impedance measured from the surface of the CDC-based CPC can be used to determine the curvature of the material and, hence, the tip displacement of a CPC laminate in a cantilever configuration. It is also shown that by measuring surface signals in the process of an actuator’s work-cycle, we obtain a self-sensing collision-detecting CPC actuator that can be considered as a counterpart of biomimetic vibrissae.

Keywords: carbon; CDC; polymer; ionic liquid; self-sensing; actuator; sensor; smart material

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