Characterization and Comparison of Piezoresistive Materials and Their Performance on Pressure-Sensitive Mats

Martínez-Cesteros, Javier (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Domínguez-Gimeno, Sergio (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Castellanos-Ramos, Julián ; Sánchez-Durán, José A. ; Medrano-Sánchez, Carlos (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: The response of three readily available low-cost piezoresistive materials (EeonTex, Ex-Static, and Velostat) and their performance on a specific application were studied in this work. First, a series of pressure cycles was applied with a pneumatic platform on piezoresistive sensors based on them. These experiments allowed quantifying several nonidealities: Variability, drift, creep, hysteresis, nonlinearity, and response time. An overview radar chart showed that hysteresis, variability, and response time were quantitatively more relevant and different between the materials. Then, pressure-sensitive mats (PSMs) were manufactured using each of those three materials. They were evaluated by measuring the center of pressure (CoP) in stability tests. A force platform (FP) served as a reference instrument. The best performance in this kind of experiment was obtained by the Velostat-based mat (trajectory distance of 0.021 versus 0.035 and 0.045 cm/sample for Ex-Static-based and EeonTexbased mats, respectively). This material also showed less response time (0.21 versus 0.42 and 0.50 s for Ex-Static and EeonTex, respectively) and hysteresis (0.11 versus 0.21 and 0.23 S/S for EeonTex and Ex-Static, respectively), although its variability was larger (0.137 versus 0.065 and 0.059 S/S for Ex-Static and EeonTex, respectively). These results indicate that response time and hysteresis have a major influence on the determination of the CoP. Further research should focus on compensating for these effects or finding sensor configurations that minimize them.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2025.3614471

Año: 2025

Publicado en: IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL 25, 22 (2025), 41373-41383
ISSN: 1530-437X

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T49-23R
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCIN/PID2021-125091OB-I00
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCINN/PID2024-158986OB-C21
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCINN/PID2024-158986OB-C22

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Ingen.Sistemas y Automát. (Dpto. Informát.Ingenie.Sistms.)
Área (Departamento): Área Tecnología Electrónica (Dpto. Ingeniería Electrón.Com.)
Área (Departamento): Área Ingeniería Eléctrica (Dpto. Ingeniería Eléctrica)