An aproach for computational simulation of the elements piezoresistives of graphite
International Journal of Development Research
An aproach for computational simulation of the elements piezoresistives of graphite
Received 19th November, 2017; Received in revised form 16th December, 2017; Accepted 23rd January, 2018; Published online 28th February, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Renan Gabbi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper presents a methodology for fabrication and mathematical simulation using the finite element method of a graphite piezoresistive sensor element 2B deposited on a flexible polymer substrate using Graphite on Paper. The computational simulation aims to find the region of greatest mechanical stress of a crimped beam, when a pressure is applied on it. The steps for the simulation are the definition of the geometry, the generation of the mesh, inclusion of the physical properties of the material and execution of the simulation. The mathematical modeling of the maximum mechanical stress is described experimentally and computationally. The experimental data were compared with the computer simulation and presented a relative percentage error of 8, 9%, indicating that graphite is a good material for the development of piezoresistive sensor elements. In this work, it is verified that the piezoresistor should be positioned at 0.4591mm of beam crimping and in the center of the beam to take advantage of the maximum mechanical stress curves. The result is extremely important as it will define the best location for deposition of graphite film in future fabrications.