Mechanical, electrical, and piezoresistive sensing characteristics of epoxy-based composites incorporating hybridized networks of carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanofibers, or graphite nanoplatelets

The present study compared the mechanical, electrical, morphological, and piezoresistive characteristics of epoxy-based sensing nanocomposites fabricated with inclusions of hybridized networks of four different carbon nanomaterials (CNMs), such as carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, carbon nanofiber (CNF), and graphite nanoplatelet (GNP). Enhancements in elastic modulus and electrical conductivity were achieved by CNT-graphene composites and CNT-CNF composites, and these were explained by the morphological observations carried out in the present study and experimental studies found in the literature. The greatest gauge factor was accomplished by the CNT-GNP composite, followed by the CNT-CNF composite among composites where the CNM networks were sufficiently formed with a content ratio of 3%. The two types of the composites outperformed the composites incorporating solely CNT in terms of gauge factor, and this superiority was explained with the excluded volume theory.