Patent ID: 8511174

Claim:
A sensor as an integrated component of an article, in particular an elastic article, where the sensor comprises a polymeric material, wherein the polymeric material is provided with electrically conductive additives and acts as a strain sensor ( 2 ) by measuring static and dynamic strain in the article in relation to the forces acting on the article and in addition monitoring the changes in the polymeric material over time resulting from the static and dynamic strain in the article; and wherein filler-filler interactions are reduced by strain as a function of the dynamic stress (amplitude, frequency, time) and only partly recombine after interruption of the mechanical stress; said polymeric material therefore acts as a strain-dependent (variable) resistance; change in the polymeric material is monitored over the number of loading cycles as a result of the only partial recombination of the filler-filler interaction; in addition, relaxation time after mechanical deformation has been stopped is greatly dependent on the preceding deformation amplitude; and a combination of these two effects creates a strain sensor which measures the mechanical stress and aging state of polymers; and wherein if the electrically conductive additives have a conductivity in the range from 10 2 to 10 6 S/cm, then the electrically conductive additives are present in an amount of from 3 to 30 phr (parts per hundred of rubber), and wherein if the electrically conductive additives have a conductivity in the range from 10 −1 to 10 2 S/cm, then the electrically conductive additives are present in an amount of from 25 to 80 phr.