The use of a carbon nanotube layer on a polyurethane multifilament substrate for monitoring strains as large as 400%

A noninvasive approach is used to fabricate electronically conductive and flexible polymer fibers by fixing carbon nanotube (CNT) networks as a thin layer on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) multifilaments. The anchoring of the CNT layer is achieved by partially embedding or penetrating CNTs from the dispersion into the swollen multifilament surface. Thus a stable and high conductivity (up to 10(2) S/m at 10 wt.% CNT loading) of the resulting CNTs-TPU fibers is realized while the mechanical properties of the TPU multifilament, especially the strain to failure of >1500%, are not affected by increasing the thickness of the CNT layer. Real time analysis of the resistance of the CNTs-TPU fibers during incremental tensile loading tests reveal that the increase of resistance as a function of the strain is attributed to stretching-induced deformation, alignment, and, at high strains, destruction of the conducting network. Moreover, the changes in resistance are highly reversible under cyclic stretching up to a strain deformation of 400%. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.