Investigation of the Possibility of Generating Electric Current from PVDF/PU Polymer Alloy Layer under Cyclic Tensile Loading

Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) as a piezoelectric material, is widely used due to its desirable mechanicalproperties. The combination of PVDF with polyurethane (PU) creates a polymer alloy with high elasticproperties that allows the tensile force to be applied to the polymer alloy and its reversibility afterforce removal. This study aimed to generate the electric current from PVDF/PU polymer alloy withoutdirect pressure or impact, with the new method under cyclic tensile loading. The results showed that thepolymer alloy layer, under cyclic tensile loading, generates an electric current and the electric voltagebetween 3 mV to 8 mV. The applied tensile force created a compressive force on the body of the layer.PVDF created an electric current due to this compressive force. The fibers were aligned in the polymerlayers to improve energy harvesting. The electric current from the layers was measured and comparedbefore and after the fiber alignment. Fiber alignment was performed by increasing the rotation speed ofthe collecting drum. The results showed that increasing the speed of the collecting roller by 10 times,lead to an increase in the electric current generation by 27%.