Piezoresistive strain sensing of carbon black / silicone composites above percolation threshold

A series of flexible composites with a carbon black (CB) filled silicone rubber matrix were made by an improved process in this work. A low percolation threshold with a mass ratio of 2.99% CB was achieved. The piezoresistive behavior of CB/silicone composites above the critical value, with the mass ratio of carbon black to the silicone rubber ranging from 0.01 to 0.2, was studied. The piezoresistive behavior was different from each other for the composites with different CB contents. But, the composites show an excellent repeatability of piezoresistivity under cyclic compression, no matter with low filler content or with high filler content. The most interesting phenomena were that the plots of gauge factor versus strain of the composites with different CB contents constructed a master curve and the curve could be well fitted by a function. It was showed that the gauge factor of the composites was strain-controlled showing a promising prospect of application. Published by AIP Publishing.