A Flexible Tactile Sensor Array for Dynamic Triaxial Force Measurement Based on Aligned Piezoresistive Nanofibers

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel flexible tactile sensor array for dynamic triaxial force measurement. Piezoresistive nanofibers, which are fabricated via the electrospinning method and are composed of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), are selected as the sensing material. The sensitive piezoresistive layer, which has micron-scale thickness, is wrapped in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with a bumped surface. This structure not only detects triaxial forces of different magnitudes and frequencies, but also can recognize the shape, size, and curvature of external objects using multiple measuring points of the sensor. When the sensor is subjected to normal forces at different frequencies, the measuring voltage shows good responses with variations of less than 1.21 %. When the sensor is subjected to shear forces, the coefficient of variation is less than 2.05%. In addition, when the sensor is stressed at multiple measuring points, the voltage response errors between the different points are less than 5.29%. The sensor shows high sensitivity (with a resistance change that can reach four orders of magnitude) and high response-speeds (response within 62 ms) in validation experiments. The proposed flexible sensor is efficient in triaxial force detection and has the potential for application to prosthetic hands and wearable devices.