Abstract:
This paper presents a force sensor developed from a reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/low-density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposite. Force sensors are essential in applications where feedback information is needed to control the force. Many force sensors have been proposed for this purpose and are in use. However, the materials used in currently available force sensors are not readily accessible. Because of this, reduced graphene oxide and low-density polyethylene polymer are combined to produce a nanocomposite for developing a force sensor to replace the force sensors with easily available materials. The main objective of this research is to model, optimise, characterise, and fabricate a nanocomposite force sensor. For the finite element analysis (FEA), a nanocomposite with a representative volume element (RVE) of dimension 450×60×300 (nm)3 was used, whose size was obtained by the size convergence test. To identify the significant factors and the best combination of the factors affecting the mechanical and electrical properties of the nanocomposite, the design of the experiment (DOE) was done. These factors are volume fraction, diameter of the filler, yield strength of the filler, modulus of elasticity of the filler, modulus of elsaticity of the matrix, and conductivity of the filler. These significant factors were optimised by the response surface method using Minitab statistical software, and the characterisation of mechanical and electrical properties was done. To model and characterise the mechanical and electrical properties of the RGO/LDPE nanocomposite, FEM was used by ABAQUS CAE software. By employing Hook’s law, the modulus of elasticity of 225.372 MPa was found from the ABAQUS CAE analysis results. When a 0.04 volume fraction of reduced graphene oxide was dispersed in low-density polyethylene, this nanocomposite generated a voltage when the force was applied to it, which can be used as a force sensor. The nanocomposite force sensor was fabricated by compression molding for the experimental test with a rectangular cross-section of dimension 45×6×30 (mm)3. The sensitivity of the nanocomposite force sensor was obtained in both simulations and experimental tests. From the ABAQUS CAE simulation, a sensitivity of 14 mv/N was obtained, and from the experimental test, a sensitivity of 17 mv/N was obtained. Keywords: Modeling, Nanocomposite, Characterization, Force Sensor and Sensitivity.