Abstract
ABSTRACTHerein, electrically conductive natural and synthetic yarns through electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique were fabricated. A parametric study on the conductivity enhancement of the yarns is carried out by Taguchi method. Using this method, the desirable conditions are determined by studying the effects of important parameters on the electrical conductivity of the yarns in the EPD coating process. Based on the L18 design of experiments table, the preferred combination of factors to obtain the highest electrical conductivity of the yarns is found by Taguchi analysis. In addition, the Pareto ANOVA analysis is conducted to identify the major contributing factors on the electrical conductivity of the yarns. Characterisation techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) are utilised for better understanding the microstructure and physical properties. When powered by only 3 V, the maximum temperature of a Joule heated conductive sample based on natural fibre yarns reached 102°C in less than 25 s.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, the use of continuous fibres, such as carbon fibre (CF), glass fibre (GF), and natural fibre (NF) as reinforcing materials for polymeric composites have delivered a wide range of properties [1,2]
The results suggest the capability of utilising conductive natural fibre yarns as electroresistive heating wires
The results of ATRFTIR clearly confirm the interaction of sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) and surface of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and agree well with the results of previous studies [25,26,27,28]
Summary
Over the past few decades, the use of continuous fibres, such as carbon fibre (CF), glass fibre (GF), and natural fibre (NF) as reinforcing materials for polymeric composites have delivered a wide range of properties [1,2]. There have been limited studies in the literature regarding the use of other coating techniques to make natural or synthetic fibres electrically conductive. A number of parameters are involved in the EPD technique that can effectively alter the coating quality and the electrical conductivity of natural fibre yarns, such as applied voltage between the electrodes, deposition time, concentration and pH of the dispersion, and functionalisation of particles. We report a simple, rapid, environment friendly, and cost-effective coating process using the EPD technique to fabricate conductive natural and synthetic yarns by SDBS functionalised-graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs) dispersed in de-ionised (DI) water. The results suggest the capability of utilising conductive natural fibre yarns as electroresistive heating wires
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