Development of a Rubber-Based Strain Sensor to Evaluate Vehicle’s Tire Performance

Abstract

Safety of the vehicles and assistance for self-driving cars have become a predominant requirement in automobile industries. In a scenario it is often required to assess the tyre performance of vehicles. This study proposes an elastomeric strain sensor that can fulfil the requirement to assess the tyre performance. A rubber strain sensor works like a piezoresistive material in which electric properties change while changing the strain of the subject. The proposed elastomeric strain sensor is composed of a rubber composite based on natural rubber and electric conductive filler such as conductive carbon black and carbon nanotube. The carbon black filler network conformation changes during applied load. The rearrangement of the filler network happens while releasing the load. The optimum composition was selected for study considering conductive filler content 12phr and crosslink density, sulphur content 4phr that affects the sensor's performance. The sensor was designed considering the tyre deformation in the belt edge of the tread region, where it shows higher deformation. A circuit was suggested to detect the senor resistance variation to be imbedded on the inner surface of the vehicle tyre.