Ultrawide sensing-range, super durable and high-strength epoxy/carbon fiber composites sensor based on stress-induced structure

Nowadays, high-pressure sensors are broadly utilized in manufacturing and applications for ensuring safe production and preventing failures. However, present high-pressure sensors are mainly fabricated by high-strength metal and cement, which are too heavy or easy-corrosive to satisfy long-term usage. Polymer piezoresistive materials have great potential due to their stability and light weight, but achieving high strength and durability at the same time remains a serious challenge. In this work, a high-strength pressure sensor is fabricated by epoxy resin/carbon fiber (EP/CF) composite, where CF builds a conductive network as a reinforcing phase and EP provides a durable and light-weight base phase. The conductive mechanism based on stress-induced structure has been elucidated, and the performance of related sensors in various conditions is revealed. The lightweight (-1.28 g/cm(3)) pressure sensor manifests a wide sensing response range from 22 kPa to 80 MPa. Moreover, the durability of this novel pressure sensor is verified by repeating loading and unloading at a high pressure of 10 MPa for more than 3500 cycles. Meanwhile, the high temperature and water resistance are furtherly confirmed, where EP/CF composites exhibits excellent cycling stability (10 MPa, >1000 cycles) after heating (100 C-degrees) or soaking in water. Attributed to the comprehensive performance of high-strength, ultrawide detection range, durability and light weight, EP/CF composites are applied for road safety monitoring and deep-sea operation, showing wide application prospects in high-pressure monitoring field.