A Comparative Study of the Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Carbon Nanotube and Natural Rubber/Carbon Nanotube Composites According to Their Mechanical and Electrical Properties

Abstract

The present study investigated Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), Natural rubber (NR) and their composites in terms of their mechanical and electrical properties for developing wearable stretch sensors. Both TPU and NR were added 2 %wt Multi-wall Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT), then in order to test their influences on TPU/CNT and NR/CNT composites. The result showed that Young’s modulus and Yield point of this experiment were higher than bare TPU and NR, whereas their stress-strain hysteresis loops were bigger than bare TPU and NR. Moreover, the Gauge factor (GF) value of TPU/CNT was much higher than NR/CNT composites at 100 % strain with 7.08. TPU/CNT composites promise to have many applications in the field of stretch sensors with good stability and durability while NR and NR/CNT were easy deformed when the stretch was applied.