High Sensitive Flexible-Based Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Thermal Shear Stress Sensor for Underwater Applications

摘要

This paper presents a flexible polyimide-based single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) thermal shear stress sensor for underwater applications. To obtain high sensitivity, vacuum thermal annealing is conducted to improve the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of sensors to nearly 10000ppm/K, which is the highest TCR value of a thermal sensor used for fluid measurements. Calibrations in a micro-water tunnel are carried out. The output voltage of the sensor is proportional to the one third power of wall shear stress. Moreover, compared with typical Ni thermistor sensor, the sensitivity of SWCNTs thermal sensor could be improved four to five times.