Modeling of an embedded carbon nanotube based composite strain sensor

Carbon nanotube strain sensors, or so called "fuzzy fiber" sensors have not yet been studied sufficiently. These sensors are composed of a bundle of fiberglass fibers coated with CNT through a thermal chemical vapor deposition process. The characteristics of these fuzzy fiber sensors differ from a conventional nanocomposite in that the CNTs are anchored to a substrate fiber and the CNTs have a preferential orientation due to this bonding to the substrate fiber. A numerical model was constructed to predict the strain response of a composite with embedded fuzzy fiber sensors in order to compare result with the experimental results obtained in an earlier study. A comparison of the numerical and experimental responses was conducted based on this work. The longitudinal sensor output from the model matches nearly perfectly with the experimental results. The transverse and off-axis tests follow the correct trends; however the magnitude of the output does not match well with the experimental data. An explanation of the disparity is proposed based on microstructural interactions between individual nanotubes within the sensor.