Piezoresistivity of conductive polymer nanocomposites: Experiment and modeling

Abstract

The piezoresistivity, expressed as the relative resistance variation with imposed strain for conductive polymer nanocomposites, was analyzed by employing two models, developed elsewhere, and a new one proposed in the present work. The corresponding experimental results of three different types of polymer nanocomposites, namely styrene-butadiene rubber reinforced with carbon black and multi walled carbon nanotubes, poly-vinylidene-fluoride and polypropylene reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes, were comparatively studied, on the basis of the employed models. An effort was made to explore the working mechanisms which control the relative resistance change with strain. The effect of polymer type, the strain range and the nano-filler type and weight fraction were investigated.