TY - JOUR
T1 - A high-thermal-stability, fully spray coated multilayer thin-film graphene/polyamide-imide nanocomposite strain sensor for acquiring high-frequency ultrasonic waves
AU - Guan, Ruiqi
AU - Zou, Fangxin
AU - Li, Dan
AU - Yao, Yingfang
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported by the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality under the Central-Guided Local Technology Development Fund (grant no.: 2021SZVUP143 ).
Funding Information:
To prepare the ink for the middle sensing layer, at first, under mechanical stirring, 5 g of PAI/NMP solution was diluted with 10 mL of NMP and 0.015 g of surface additive was added to the solution. The PAI content in the diluted PAI/NMP solution is 10 wt%. Then, 0.26 g of graphene nanofillers (diameter: ∼6 μm, thickness: 4–7 nm; Shanghai Aladdin Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd., China) were dispersed into 30 mL of NMP under ultrasonication. The relatively high boiling point of NMP would grant the middle sensing layer a uniform thickness upon curing, in turn equipping the proposed sensor with a stable sensitivity. Finally, the graphene/NMP suspension was thoroughly mixed with the diluted PAI/NMP solution through 6 h of ultrasonication. The optimal duration of 6 h was determined by considering the exfoliation and dispersion state of graphene nanofillers in the graphene/PAI/NMP suspension. A thorough mixing as such would also help to mitigate the clogging of the nozzle during spray coating. The graphene content in the graphene/PAI mixture is 15 wt%.This work is supported by the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality under the Central-Guided Local Technology Development Fund (grant no.: 2021SZVUP143).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/8/18
Y1 - 2022/8/18
N2 - Owing to their physical flexibility and exceptional sensitivity to ultrasonic waves, thin-film graphene-based nanocomposite sensors have been gaining prominence in ultrasonic testing-based structural health monitoring (UT-SHM) applications. However, both the electrical conductivities of this new class of sensors and their adhesion on monitoring targets have been found to be highly dependent on temperature. Consequently, under excessive temperature variations, signals that would be output would be disturbed and unable to reflect the health conditions of the monitoring targets, undermining the accuracy of the health monitoring. Herein, we propose a high-thermal-stability thin-film graphene/polyamide-imide sensor for acquiring ultrasonic waves under unstable temperature conditions. The sensor consists of three layers, namely a polyamide-imide-based insulation/adhesion layer (bottom), a graphene/polyamide-imide-based sensing layer (middle), and a silver-based electrode layer (top). It is fabricated by ultrasonic atomization-assisted spray coating and can be formed directly on monitoring targets. Thanks to the adoption of polyamide-imide, the sensor retains a steady electrical conductivity and a strong adhesion on monitoring targets up to 160 °C. As a result, its sensitivity to ultrasonic waves exhibits only marginal changes. All in all, this work further promotes the implementation of thin-film graphene-based nanocomposite sensors in real-life UT-SHM applications.
AB - Owing to their physical flexibility and exceptional sensitivity to ultrasonic waves, thin-film graphene-based nanocomposite sensors have been gaining prominence in ultrasonic testing-based structural health monitoring (UT-SHM) applications. However, both the electrical conductivities of this new class of sensors and their adhesion on monitoring targets have been found to be highly dependent on temperature. Consequently, under excessive temperature variations, signals that would be output would be disturbed and unable to reflect the health conditions of the monitoring targets, undermining the accuracy of the health monitoring. Herein, we propose a high-thermal-stability thin-film graphene/polyamide-imide sensor for acquiring ultrasonic waves under unstable temperature conditions. The sensor consists of three layers, namely a polyamide-imide-based insulation/adhesion layer (bottom), a graphene/polyamide-imide-based sensing layer (middle), and a silver-based electrode layer (top). It is fabricated by ultrasonic atomization-assisted spray coating and can be formed directly on monitoring targets. Thanks to the adoption of polyamide-imide, the sensor retains a steady electrical conductivity and a strong adhesion on monitoring targets up to 160 °C. As a result, its sensitivity to ultrasonic waves exhibits only marginal changes. All in all, this work further promotes the implementation of thin-film graphene-based nanocomposite sensors in real-life UT-SHM applications.
KW - A. Graphene
KW - A. Nano composites
KW - B. Sensing
KW - B. Thermomechanical properties
KW - D. Ultrasonic testing
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85133767730
U2 - 10.1016/j.compscitech.2022.109628
DO - 10.1016/j.compscitech.2022.109628
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85133767730
SN - 0266-3538
VL - 227
JO - Composites Science and Technology
JF - Composites Science and Technology
M1 - 109628
ER -