Electro-thermal–mechanical performance of a sensor based on PAN carbon fibers and real-time detection of change under thermal and mechanical stimuli

International audience; Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a vastly growing field consisting of sensors embedded in or attached with the structure which respond to the strain or other stimuli to monitor the deformation in real-time. In this study, a carbon fiber (CF) sensor was developed using unidirectional Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon filaments aligned straightly together and its sensitivity was calculated experimentally, with the gauge factor (GF) in 10.2-10.8 range. The electro-thermal behavior of this CF sensor showed distinct performance and detected the change in the surrounding temperature. There is a good reproducibility in the results in both piezoresistive and electrothermal behavior of the CF sensor and its electrical performance showed real-time detection of both mechanical and thermal stimuli. The results established that the CF exhibited good potential as a flexible strain sensor for in-situ monitoring of damage or energy release during the failure of composites.