Characterization of high-sensitive thermoplastic strain gauge sensor as wearable tool for monitoring spacesuit movement impediment

In many activities in space, astronauts need to wear pressurized spacesuits. This equipment can protect the astronaut from the hostile external environment, but at the same time impede a series of movements causing discomfort and fatigue. To monitor these limitations in the usage of spacesuits, specific sensors need to be tailored. Among the different types of devices, wearable sensors can be a promising candidate to provide this information without adding further discomfort. The success of wearables relies on the possibility to integrate multifunctional components in the textile providing almost transparent sensing of the human body. In this scenario, physical sensors play a crucial role since they offer a fast and reliable feedback of the human motion, even for fine gestures, and can detect vital physiological parameters too. Among wearable physical sensors, thermoplastic materials are interesting for their sensitivity, softness and high stretchability. Moreover, these materials exhibit a good chemical resistant and implement low cost manufacturing processes. In this work, we report an exhaustive characterization of a new thermoplastic nanocomposite material with a gauge factor better than 100. The properties of the sensing material have been tested for increasing strain (up to 40%) and for different speed, providing also procedure to increment stability of the sensor response.