• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.205-215
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• 2019

A flexible polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite prototype with high piezoelectricity and force sensitivity was constructed, and its huge potential for applications such as biomechanical energy harvesting, self-powered health monitoring system, and pressure sensors was proved. The crystallization, piezoelectric, and electrical properties of the composites were characterized using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiment and customized experimental setups. The composite can sustain up to 100% strain, which is a huge improvement over monolithic PVDF fibers and other PVDF-based composites in the literature. The Young's modulus is 1.64 MPa, which is closely matched with the flexibility of the human skin, and shows the possibility for integrating PVDF/PDMS composites into wearable devices and implantable medical devices. The $300{\mu}m$ thick composite has a 14% volume fraction of PVDF fibers and produces high piezoelectricity with piezoelectric charge constants $d_{31}=19pC/N$ and $d_{33}=34pC/N$, and piezoelectric voltage constants $g_{31}=33.9mV/N$ and $g_{33}=61.2mV/N$. Under a 10 Hz actuation, the output voltage was measured at 190 mVpp, which is the largest output signal generated from a PVDF fiber-based prototype.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2017

In this paper, we present a strain-sensitive composite skin-like film made up of piezoresistive zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods embedded in a flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrate, with added reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to facilitate connections between the nanorod clusters and increase strain sensitivity. Preparation of the composite is described in detail. Cyclic strain sensing tests are conducted. Experiments indicate that the resulting ZnO-PDMS/rGO composite film is strain-sensitive and thus capable of sensing cycling strain accurately. As such, it has the potential to be molded on to a structure (civil, mechanical, aerospace, or biological) in order to provide a strain sensing skin.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.389-415
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• 2014

This study deals with dynamic model of composite sandwich panels with functionally graded flexible cores under low velocity impacts of multiple large or small masses using a new improved higher order sandwich panel theory (IHSAPT). In-plane stresses were considered for the functionally graded core and face sheets. The formulation was based on the first order shear deformation theory for the composite face sheets and polynomial description of the displacement fields in the core that was based on the second Frostig's model. Fully dynamic effects of the functionally graded core and face-sheets were considered in this study. Impacts were assumed to occur simultaneously and normally over the top and/or bottom of the face-sheets with arbitrary different masses and initial velocities. The contact forces between the panel and impactors were treated as internal forces of the system. Nonlinear contact stiffness was linearized with a newly presented improved analytical method in this paper. The results were validated by comparing the analytical, numerical and experimental results published in the latest literature.

• Ceramist
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.110-121
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• 2019

Triboelectric nanogenerators and piezoelectric nanogenerators are a spotlighted energy harvesting method that converts the wasted mechanical energy from the environment into usable electrical energy. In the case of triboelectric nanogenerators, researches have been mainly focused on high permittivity and flexible polymer materials, and in the case of piezoelectric nanogenerators, researches have been focused on ceramic materials exhibiting high polarization characteristics. Recently, many researches have been conducted to improve durability and power in various environments by using composite materials which have flexible properties of polymer, high permittivity, thermal resistance and high polarization properties of ceramics. This article reviews the energy harvesting studies reported about composites materials using ceramics and polymers.

• Carbon letters
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• v.27
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• pp.98-107
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• 2018

Free-standing electrodes of CuO nanorods in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are developed by synthesizing porous CuO nanorods throughout CNT webs. The electrochemical performance of the free-standing electrodes is evaluated for their use in flexible lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The electrodes comprising CuO@CNT nanocomposites (NCs) were characterized by charge-discharge testing, cyclic voltammetry, and impedance measurement. These structures are capable of accommodating a high number of lithium ions as well as increasing stability; thus, an increase of capacity in long-term cycling and a good rate capability is achieved. We demonstrate a simple process of fabricating free-standing electrodes of CuO@CNT NCs that can be utilized in flexible LIBs with high performance in terms of capacity and cycling stability.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.615-618
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• 2003

We developed a new device structure using anisotropic phase sepraration from liquid crystals (LCs) and polymer composite materials for flexible display applications. In the device, the LC molecules are isolated in pixels where LCs are surrounded by polymer layers. These devices show very good mechanical stability against external pressure. The electro-optic characteristics and the mechanical stability of the devices are discussed in view of the flexible display applications.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.865-874
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• 2016

This research is concerned with the experimental investigation on the vibrations of a flexible two-link system for verifying the theoretical result from simplified equations of motion for the system along with the kinematical synthesis are proposed to simulate the elastic vibrations of a previous study. The structure consists of flexible two-links; The link 2 is attached to the end of the link 1. The link 1 is made of composite fiber reinforced polymer and the link 2 is an aluminum beam. In order to verify the theoretical result, a flexible two-link system operated by the AC and RC servo motors was constructed. Experimental results show that the dynamic modeling approach and the kinematical synthesis proposed in this paper are effective.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.349-360
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• 2007

Recently, natural fiber reinforced composite is attracting attention and considered as an environmentally friendly material. Usually cellulosic fibers are used to reinforce the composites, but some protein fibers such as silk and wool serve the same purpose. In this paper, we proposed a method of producing artistic composite from artistic fabric by using silk fiber reinforced biodegradable plastic, which is designated as 'silk composite', for reinforcement. In order to expand applications of the silk composite, we performed the compression molding of decorative laminates with woody material, which was selected as a core material, and examined the properties of molded decorative laminates with various content of the silk composite. Since plywood and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) are widely used for decorative laminates, we selected them as core materials. As a result, flexible decorative laminates with high flexural strength were obtained by compounding the silk composite with wood materials.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a flexible zeroth-order resonant(ZOR) antenna. Its zero phase constant ensures that the antenna performance is independent of substrate deformation. A composite right/left-handed transmission line is designed based on coplanar waveguide technology to realize the zeroth-order resonance phenomenon. The CRLH is an implementation of metamaterial(left handed material) which is composed of shunt inductance and series capacitance. In order to yield additional circuital parameter, chip inductor and gap capacitor is added, respectively. The proposed ZOR antenna provides good performances: reasonable bandwidth(6.5 %) and peak gain(0.69~1.39 dBi). Simulated and measured results show that the antenna's resonant frequencies and radiation patterns are almost unchanged at different curvature diameters of 30, 50, 70 mm, as well as for a flat surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.716-719
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• 2016

In this paper, we fabricated flexible CNT/PVDF (carbon nanotube / polyvinylidene fluoride) piezoelectric composite device with flexible poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) conducting polymer electrode using spray coating method. We tried to improve the piezoelectric performance from the CNT/PVDF composite film by enhancing electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrodes. Electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrode was enhanced by dipping it into the EG (ethylene glycol) solvent. Changes of chemical composition of the PEDOT:PSS electrode were analyzed with the dipping time by XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) in terms of oxygen (O1s). Finally, Piezoelectric performances such as output voltage and current were measured with the dipping time. We found that enhanced electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrodes resulted in improvement of the piezoelectric performance of the CNT/PVDF films.