Mechanical and piezoresistive behavior of selectively laser sintered MWCNT/UHMWPE nanocomposites

Azam, M. U., Schiffer, A. and Kumar, S. (2023) Mechanical and piezoresistive behavior of selectively laser sintered MWCNT/UHMWPE nanocomposites. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 173, 107701. (doi: 10.1016/j.compositesa.2023.107701)

Abstract

Herein, we present the mechanical and piezoresistive behavior of MWCNT/UHMWPE nanocomposites processed via selective laser sintering (SLS) under tensile, flexural and cyclic loadings. We show that the uniform dispersion of MWCNTs in UHMWPE enhances crystallinity (+10% for 0.5 wt.% MWCNT) and decreases porosity (as evidenced by μCT images), evincing the lowest porosity (∼ 1%) and the highest tensile strength of 20.3 MPa which is ∼45% higher than the maximum tensile strength of extant SLS processed UHMWPE and UHMWPE-based composites. The nanocomposite also exhibits superior piezoresistive characteristics, showing a sensitivity (in tension) of 0.6 and 2.6 in the elastic and inelastic regime, respectively. Furthermore, 2D-hexagonal nanocomposite lattices with a relative density of 50% reveal a linear piezoresistive response with a gauge factor of 1 and show consistent and stable strain sensing capability over 100 cycles. The results demonstrate the potential of MWCNT/UHMWPE nanocomposites for the development of smart biomedical devices.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by Khalifa University through the Competitive Internal Research Award (CIRA) 2018 [grant number CIRA-2018-128].
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kumar, Professor Shanmugam

Creator Roles

Kumar, S.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review and editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition

• Authors: Azam, M. U., Schiffer, A., and Kumar, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1359-835X
• ISSN (Online): 1878-5840
• Published Online: 24 July 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 173:107701
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license