This study aimed at fabricating the PVDF-based piezoelectric energy harvester with high flexibility and efficiency. PVDF Nano-fiber was synthesized by using the electrospinning process. This study utilized the ink-jet printer to make the silver contact for the PVDF energy harvester. Later, the energy harvester was coated with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with different thickness. The result shown that the PVDF energy harvester tend to harvest the vibration at the frequency lower than 100 Hz. Moreover, the coating layer can decrease the energy harvesting efficiency due to its vibration absorption. This result was further validated by the Comsol Multiphysics simulation.
Electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique coupled with the piezoelectric sensor has been explored as a promising non-destructive testing (NDT) method to determine the quality of cementitious materials. Among the piezoelectric sensors, Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) is the most commonly used piezo-ceramic materials for conducting the EMI because of the high sensitivity and high piezoelectric constant. However, the inherent brittleness of PZT limited their potential application as embedded sensors for in-situ monitoring of materials/structure properties. To improve the durability and flexibility of the PZT sensor, we have systematically investigated the effect of different polymer coating methods of PZT on their sensitivity and effectiveness of EMI sensors. Specifically, two polymer coating agents were used to encapsulate the PZT sensor including the flexible organic polymer compound - Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the rigid polymer compound- Polyepoxides (Epoxy) We have also investigated the feasibility of EMI technique with the surface bonded sensor and embedded sensor to test the compressive strength gain of mortars. The compressive strength test of samples was also conducted using conventional mechanical methods per ASTM C109 as a baseline at the first 5th to 8th hour. The EMI signatures were collected for all the samples at the same time. Our preliminary results have shown a high correlation of EMI methods’ results with the compressive testing results for two different polymers coated PZT sensors, which indicated the polymer-coated PZT sensors can be used as an effective NDT method for in-situ monitoring of concrete compressive strength gain at the very early age.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.