Low-cost and high-resolution pressure sensors using highly stretchable polymer optical fibers

Abstract

This letter reports on the development of a low-cost intensity variation-based pressure sensor using polymer optical fibers (POFs) with high flexibility fabricated through the light polymerization spinning process. The fibers were characterized by tensile tests that indicate a Young’s modulus of 18.11 MPa. The pressure response of the proposed system shows a sensitivity five times higher when compared with systems employing commercial POFs. Furthermore, results also show low hysteresis (3.5%) and resolution potentially higher than the systems with spectral based sensors.