The use of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films as sensors for vibration measurement: A brief review

Information about vibrating objects can be obtained by vibration measurements. Piezoelectric sensors made by piezoelectric ceramics, quartz, or organic piezoelectric materials, e. g. polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) have been adopted by many researchers to measure vibrations. Among these piezoelectric materials, PVDF has attracted much attention for its excellent properties such as outstanding chemical resistance, high thermal stability, low permitivities, low acoustic impedances, flexibility and membrane forming properties. In this paper, PVDF is introduced in brief. In addition, this paper briefly reviews the use of PVDF films as sensors for vibration measurement in the areas of portable medical detections, structural health monitoring, mechanical equipment vibration measurements and other applications. Meanwhile, some cases which have good low-frequency performances or novel features in structures will be especially introduced to provide helpful experiences for future applications. In the end, a spiral-shaped PVDF cantilever and a double-clamped PVDF beam of two piezoelectric energy harvesters are mentioned to provide ideas for reducing the resonant frequencies and enhancing the output signals of PVDF vibration sensors respectively. The idea of how to enhance the output signals of PVDF sensors for low frequency vibration measurements may be helpful to the development of geophone.