Prediction of the piezo-resistive behavior of rubber/carbon nanotube nanocomposites under quasi-static compression

Abstract This paper presents the prediction of piezo-resistive behavior under quasi-static uniaxial compression loads using the Percolation Excluded Volume ( PEV ) approach. The PEV approach is supplemented by Finite Element ( FE ) simulations to calculate the displacements of Carbon Nano-Tubes ( CNT s) embedded in a polymer matrix. The number of contacts between CNT s is determined by the minimum distance threshold (tunnelling distance). The FE model is based on experimental parameters and CNT data. The simulations carried out using the LS-Dyna solver made it possible to calculate the variation of electrical resistance, which was found to be in accordance with its experimental counterpart. The resistance increases when the CNT s are mostly oriented orthogonally to the loading direction. For other orientations, the resistance decreases.