The role of irreversible and reversible phenomena in the piezoresistive behavior of graphene epoxy nanocomposites applied to structural health monitoring

The use of graphene for the development of a strain and damage sensor was evaluated and modeled. To achieve this, a graphene epoxy reactive mixture was used as a conductive coating which was cured onto a carbon fiber reinforced composite. This methodology proved to be very effective where substantial changes in piezoresistivity (up to 400%) were found as a function of strain (up to 2%). This contributed to a very high linear gauge factor (56.7(+/- 0.69)). The role of reversible and irreversible phenomena in the sensor piezoresistivity was modeled using the concepts of tunneling currents and conduction paths. In order to predict the response at higher deformation, an irreversible component was introduced to account for the substantial increase of piezoresistivity. A model which incorporated both components was able to predict the piezoresistivity up to high deformation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.