Development of tactile sensor for measuring hair touch feeling

In this paper, a tactile sensor system for evaluation of human hair under dry and wet conditions is developed. The polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film is used as the sensory material. The sensor consists of an acrylic base, a silicone rubber, a PVDF film. A surface projection is put on the PVDF film as the contacting part. The sensor output is obtained by contacting and scanning objects. Panels imitating the physical and chemical properties of human hair surface are fabricated and used as measuring objects for stable measurement. Panels cleaned down with several kinds of hair-care products are measured by the sensor. By comparison between the sensor output and human sensory evaluation, it was confirmed that the sensor outputs have a good correlation with human sensory evaluation. It was found that the sensor system is available for monitoring hair conditions in both dry and wet conditions.