The strain sensing property of carbon nanofiber/glass microballoon epoxy nanocomposite

This work reports the strain sensing property of a nanocomposite made from a free standing multi-scale structure that consisted of glass microballoons and carbon nanofibers. An epoxy system was infiltrated into the structure in order to fabricate a nanocomposite sensor. The electrical resistance of the sensor when subjected to a tensile strain was investigated. The change in electrical resistance of the sensor versus the applied strain was found to have linear and non-linear regions. In the linear region, the sensor exhibited a similar sensitivity to conventional resistance-type strain gages. A single equation that relates the change in electrical resistance to the applied strain for the linear and non-linear regions was developed.