• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2019

Flexible impact force sensors composed of piezoelectric PZT/PDMS composite sandwiched between Al/PET films were fabricated and their voltage signal characteristics were evaluated under varying impact forces for electronic mitt applications. The piezoelectric impact force sensor on an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) substrate exhibited an output voltage difference of no greater than 40 mV a periodical impact test in with the impact load was increased by as much as 240 N by a restoration time of 5 s in a five-time experiment, implying good sensing ability. Moreover, the impact force sensor embedded four electronic mitts showed a reliable sensitivity of less than 1 mV/N and good repeatability under 100 N-impact force during a cycle test executed 10,000 times. This indicated that the fabricated flexible piezoelectric impact sensor could be used in electronic mitt applications. However, the relatively low elastic limit of substrate material such as EVA or poly-urethane slightly deteriorated the sensitivity of the impact sensor embedded electronic mitt at over 200 N-impact forces.