Abstract
Polyaniline (PANI)/11% Multi-carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) nanocomposites sensors were synthesized through an in situ polymerization method. Frits compression method was adopted to make PANI/MWCNT. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) tests results showed that this technique produced a coating of PANI onto the MWCNT, which indicated that CNT were well dispersed in the polymer matrix. Several tests were run to evaluate the sensor’s capabilities. The free end vibration test results showed that the double sided attachment of the sensor had higher damping ratio values than single sided attachment. Also, damping ratios were higher when the sensor was placed at the clamped end. Further, the strain sensing properties of PANI/MWCNT sensors were compared with the conventional foil strain gage. The dynamic sensing test results showed that over the range of 10–1000 Hz, the PANI/MWCNT composite sensor was consistently superior to the traditional foil strain gage for sensing purposes.
Highlights
Multifunctional materials are necessarily composite materials, and the strong growth in the use of composites has been greatly influenced by multifunctional design requirements
The MWCNT diameters are 15 6 5 nm [Fig. 3(a)] depending on measurement location in the Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image while the diameters of the PANI/11% MWCNT are about 70 nm [Fig. 3(b)]. It indicates that the MWCNT nanofibers were coated with a dense PANI layers. Comparing both TEM images shown below, the walls of PANI/11% MWCNT nanofibers were rougher than the walls of MWCNT nanofibers
It indicates that the polymerization of PANI was at least part of the nucleation growth and that the MWCNT was initially acting as the nucleating agent, which led to a new interwoven fibrous structure [Fig. 4(b)]
Summary
Multifunctional materials are necessarily composite materials, and the strong growth in the use of composites has been greatly influenced by multifunctional design requirements. Thermoplastic urethane (TPU) composites improved strain sensitivity. MWCNT films have been demonstrated to show the capability of being strain sensors.[12,13] theoretical analysis showed that the addition of CNTs into a polymer matrix can improve the damping ratio and stiffness of the matrix,[14] while experiments of different MWCNT composite films verified the theoretical prediction.[15,16] the nanocomposites of PANI/MWCNT films. Res., Vol 32, No 1, Jan 13, 2017 Ó Materials Research Society 2016 Lin et al.: Polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites for structural vibration damping and strain sensing were fabricated and their vibration damping properties and their strain sensing properties were studied
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