Abstract:

In order to study the strain sensing of the smart fabric with carbon nanotube (CNT) as the sensing element, CNT yarn was embedded into woven fabric and the  relationship between the resistance changing rate of CNT yarn and the strain of fabric was tested. The results show that the gage factor of the original CNT yarn is 1.02, the gage factor of the composite yarn treated by 5% polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) is improved to 1.43. Embedding the CNT yarn and CNT/PVA yarn into woven fabric in warp and weft direction and appling 3% strain along the warp direction, and the gage factor of CNT/PVA yarn is 0.67 in warp direction and 0.27 in weft direction, and the gage factor of CNT yarn is 0.33 in warp direction and 0.1 in weft direction. Change the warp float length of CNT/PVA yarn into woven fabric, the longer the float is, the higher the gage factor of the fabric is, and the gage factor of 6 consecutive floating lengths is 0.81. Change the length of CNT/PVA yarn embedded into woven, within a certain range, the longer the length of embedded yarn, the higher of  the gage factor of the fabric is. The experimental results show that embedded the CNT yarn of 3 cm into woven along the warp direction, the gauge factor is about 1.07 when applying the stretch of 7% to the woven fabric. The sensing woven fabric embedded the CNT yarn into plain with great sensing in small strain shows great peospect in the application of CNT yarn.

Key words: carbon nanogube yarn, woven fabric, stain sensor, warp-length embedded, length embedded