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Facile and Large-scale Fabrication of Self-crimping Elastic Fibers for Large Strain Sensors

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Abstract

Stretchable conductive fibers offer unparalleled advantages in the development of wearable strain sensors for smart textiles due to their excellent flexibility and weaveability. However, the practical applications of these fibers in wearable devices are hindered by either contradictory properties of conductive fibers (high stretchability versus high sensing stability), or lack of manufacturing scalability. Herein, we present a facile approach for highly stretchable self-crimping fiber strain sensors based on a polyether-ester (TPEE) elastomer matrix using a side-by-side bicomponent melt-spinning process involving two parallel but attached components with different shrinkage properties. The TPEE component serves as a highly elastic mechanical support layer within the bicomponent fibers, while the conductive component (E-TPEE) of carbon black (CB), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) and TPEE works as a strain-sensitive layer. In addition to the intrinsic elasticity of the matrix, the TPEE/E-TPEE bicomponent fibers present an excellent form of elasticity due to self-crimping. The self-crimping elongation of the fibers can provide a large deformation, and after the crimp disappears, the intrinsic elastic deformation is responsible for monitoring the strain sensing. The reliable strain sensing range of the TPEE/E-TPEE composite fibers was 160%–270% and could be regulated by adjusting the crimp structure. More importantly, the TPEE/E-TPEE fibers had a diameter of 30–40 µm and tenacity of 40–50 MPa, showing the necessary practicality. This work introduces new possibilities for fiber strain sensors produced in standard industrial spinning machines.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Prospective Applied Basic Research Program of Suzhou City (No. SYG202041), the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (No. 19KJB540004), Jiangsu Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2020Z159) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2017M620125).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Jin-Chao Yu & Zhi-Juan Pan

  2. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Jin-Chao Yu, Kang Chen, Hong Ji, Yang Zhang & Yu-Mei Zhang

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  1. Jin-Chao Yu
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Correspondence to Jin-Chao Yu, Yu-Mei Zhang or Zhi-Juan Pan.

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Yu, JC., Chen, K., Ji, H. et al. Facile and Large-scale Fabrication of Self-crimping Elastic Fibers for Large Strain Sensors. Chin J Polym Sci 39, 914–924 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-021-2560-1

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