Photonic skin for pressure and strain sensing

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the strain and pressure testing of highly flexible skins embedded with Bragg grating sensors recorded in either silica or polymer optical fibre. The photonic skins, with a size of 10cm x 10cm and thickness of 1mm, were fabricated by embedding the polymer fibre or silica fibre containing Bragg gratings in Sylgard 184 from Dow Corning. Pressure sensing was studied using a cylindrical metal post placed on an array of points across the skin. The polymer fibre grating exhibits approximately 10 times the pressure sensitivity of the silica fibre and responds to the post even when it is placed a few centimetres away from the sensing fibre. Although the intrinsic strain sensitivities of gratings in the two fibre types are very similar, when embedded in the skin the polymer grating displayed a strain sensitivity approximately 45 times greater than the silica device, which also suffered from considerable hysteresis. The polymer grating displayed a near linear response over wavelength shifts of 9nm for 1% strain. The difference in behaviour we attribute to the much greater Young's modulus of the silica fibre (70 GPa) compared to the polymer fibre (3 GPa).

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.854235
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Institute of Photonics Technology (AIPT)
Additional Information: Xianfeng Chen ; C. Zhang ; B. Van Hoe ; D. J. Webb ; K. Kalli ; G. Van Steenberge and G.-D. Peng; "Photonic skin for pressure and strain sensing", Francis Berghmans ; Anna G. Mignani; and Chris A. van Hoof (eds) Proc. SPIE 7726, Optical Sensing and Detection, 772604 (May 13, 2010). Copyright 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.854235
Event Title: Optical sensing and detection
Event Type: Other
Event Dates: 2010-04-12 - 2010-04-15
Uncontrolled Keywords: photonic skin,optical fibre,Bragg grating,polymer optical fibre,sensor,pressure,strain,loading,Applied Mathematics,Computer Science Applications,Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials,Condensed Matter Physics
ISBN: 978-0-8194-8199-3
Last Modified: 02 Jan 2024 18:10
Date Deposited: 22 Oct 2013 14:39
Full Text Link: http://spiedigi ... isAuthorized=no
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Chapter
Published Date: 2010-05-13
Authors: Chen, Xianfeng
Zhang, C.
van Hoe, B.
Webb, D.J. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5495-1296)
Kalli, K.
van Steenberge, G.
Peng, G.-D.

Download

[img]

Version: Accepted Version


Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record