This present paper describes a novel method to fabricate tactile sensor arrays by producing aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs)-polyurethane (PU) composite sub-microfiber (SMF) arrays with the electrospinning technique. The proposed sensor was designed to be used as the artificial skin for a tactile sensation system. Although thin fibers in micro- and nanoscale have many good mechanical characteristics and could enhance the alignment of MWNTs inside, the high impedance as a consequence of a small section handicaps its application. In this paper, unidirectional composite SMFs were fabricated orthogonally to the parallel electrodes through a low-cost method to serve as sensitive elements (SEs), and the impedances of SEs were measured to investigate the changes with deformation caused by applied force. The particular piezoresistive mechanism of MWNTs disturbed in SMF was analyzed. The static and dynamic test results of the fabricated tactile sensor were also presented to validate the performance of the proposed design.
Keywords: carbon nanotubes; electrospinning; flexible tactile sensors; nanocomposite; sub-microfiber array.