Pressure sensitive material
AssigneeLeatech, LLC
InventorsMarvine P. Hamner, Robert F Mulligan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A polymeric material which exhibits an optically detectable response to changes in pressure. The material includes an elastomer selected from the group of a polyurethane, a polyacrylate, and a silicone, in combination with a photochemical system. The photochemical system may be in the form of an exciplex or a fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Both photochemical systems are reversible processes. Synthesis of the elastomer and the photochemical system produce a material which forms an excited charge transfer complex when subject to an increase in pressure and a less excited charge transfer complex as pressure is lowered.
Claims15
A polymeric material comprising:
- a polyurethane elastomer adapted to detect a change in load comprising an aliphatic diisocyanate, a hydroxyl terminated polyol, and a photochemical system including fluorescent distance probing molecules modified to be chain extending diols;
- wherein an isocyanate to hydroxyl molar ratio ranges from about 1 to 2;
- and
- the molar ratio of said chain extending diols to polyol ranges from about 10:1 to about 1:2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.