TY - JOUR
T1 - Processing of nanocomposites using supercritical fluid assisted extrusion for stress/strain sensing applications
AU - Poudel, Anup
AU - Karode, Nireeksha
AU - McGorry, Peter
AU - Walsh, Philip
AU - Lyons, John G.
AU - Kennedy, James
AU - Matthews, Siobhán
AU - Coffey, Austin
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge Waterford Institute of Technology scholarship 2013 and SFI Infrastructural Grant (2012) for financial support. Special thanks to SCF Processing Ltd., Drogheda, Ireland and Applied Polymer Technology Research Centre, Athlone for their support throughout the work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/5/15
Y1 - 2019/5/15
N2 - The problem of dispersion of nano-additives in thermoplastic elastomers using continuous processing techniques still prevails in scientific and engineering applications. To address this, supercritical fluid (SCF) assisted extrusion was utilised to develop elastic, isotropic and electrically superior materials, which contain elastomeric microphases of Poly(styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene [SEBS] with homogeneously dispersed conductive nano-additives of carbon black [CB]. SEBS-SCF/CB 5 wt% extrudates showed 46% and 14% higher storage modulus compared to their counterparts in transverse and longitudinal direction respectively. Similarly, piezo-resistive properties of SEBS-SCF/CB composites were found to have a superior strain gauge factor with linear decrease in conductivity with increasing strain, compared to nonlinear increase/decrease in piezoresistive behaviour of SEBS/CB composites. Piezo-resistivity of SEBS-SCF/CB 5 wt% nanocomposites were found to be highly sensitive in both bending (3.6% change in resistance per degree for 1.7 cm thick sample) and tensile strain conditions (gauge factor ca. 9) for smart applications.
AB - The problem of dispersion of nano-additives in thermoplastic elastomers using continuous processing techniques still prevails in scientific and engineering applications. To address this, supercritical fluid (SCF) assisted extrusion was utilised to develop elastic, isotropic and electrically superior materials, which contain elastomeric microphases of Poly(styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene [SEBS] with homogeneously dispersed conductive nano-additives of carbon black [CB]. SEBS-SCF/CB 5 wt% extrudates showed 46% and 14% higher storage modulus compared to their counterparts in transverse and longitudinal direction respectively. Similarly, piezo-resistive properties of SEBS-SCF/CB composites were found to have a superior strain gauge factor with linear decrease in conductivity with increasing strain, compared to nonlinear increase/decrease in piezoresistive behaviour of SEBS/CB composites. Piezo-resistivity of SEBS-SCF/CB 5 wt% nanocomposites were found to be highly sensitive in both bending (3.6% change in resistance per degree for 1.7 cm thick sample) and tensile strain conditions (gauge factor ca. 9) for smart applications.
KW - Conductive fillers
KW - Nanocomposite processing
KW - SEBS
KW - Stress/strain sensor
KW - Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060721936&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.01.098
DO - 10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.01.098
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060721936
VL - 165
SP - 397
EP - 405
JO - Composites Part B: Engineering
JF - Composites Part B: Engineering
SN - 1359-8368
ER -