Heavy duty piezoresistivity induced strain sensing natural rubber/carbon black nanocomposites reinforced with different carbon nanofillers

Durable piezoresistive effects of natural rubber nanocomposites have been demonstrated, i.e., with stable and reversible electrical resistance change within the tested 3000 cycles upon applying a small compressive strain (similar to 16.7%) under a relatively high frequency (0.5 Hz, 2 s/cycle). This unique function was achieved for the first time by combining carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers with natural rubber composites pretreated with carbon black. Even though the combination of different carbon nanomaterials, such as graphene nanosheets and carbon nanotubes, can improve the dispersion quality of both the nanostructures in solution or in polymer matrices, this type of synergistic effect between carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers in producing stable and reversible piezoresistive effect has been rarely reported. Besides, the strong reinforcement (compressive stress at a maximum strain of 16.7% was increased from 12.6 for untreated to 18.5 MPa for the natural rubber/carbon black composites treated with a combination of 1.0 wt% carbon nanotubes and 1.0 wt% carbon nanofibers) makes the as-prepared composites promising for heavy duty pressure sensors, i.e., healthy motion monitoring of industrial machinery vibrations.