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6CCVD Research

Selective Laser Sintering Fabricated Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Graphene Cellular Structures with Tailorable Properties and High Strain Sensitivity

At a Glance

Section titled ā€œAt a Glanceā€
MetadataDetails
Publication Date2019-02-28
JournalApplied Sciences
AuthorsAlfredo Ronca, Gennaro Rollo, Pierfrancesco Cerruti, Guoxia Fei, Xinpeng Gan
InstitutionsInstitute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Research Council
Citations67

Abstract

Section titled ā€œAbstractā€

Electrically conductive and flexible thermoplastic polyurethane/graphene (TPU/GE) porous structures were successfully fabricated by selective laser sintering (SLS) technique starting from graphene (GE)-wrapped thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powders. Several 3D mathematically defined architectures, with porosities from 20% to 80%, were designed by using triply periodic minimal surfaces (TMPS) equations corresponding to Schwarz (S), Diamond (D), and Gyroid (G) unit cells. The resulting three-dimensional porous structures exhibit an effective conductive network due to the segregation of graphene nanoplatelets previously assembled onto the TPU powder surface. GE nanoplatelets improve the thermal stability of the TPU matrix, also increasing its glass transition temperature. Moreover, the porous structures realized by S geometry display higher elastic modulus values in comparison to D and G-based structures. Upon cyclic compression tests, all porous structures exhibit a robust negative piezoresistive behavior, regardless of their porosity and geometry, with outstanding strain sensitivity. Gauge factor (GF) values of 12.4 at 8% strain are achieved for S structures at 40 and 60% porosity, and GF values up to 60 are obtained for deformation extents lower than 5%. Thermal conductivity of the TPU/GE structures significantly decreases with increasing porosity, while the effect of the structure architecture is less relevant. The TPU/GE porous structures herein reported hold great potential as flexible, highly sensitive, and stable strain sensors in wearable or implantable devices, as well as dielectric elastomer actuators.

Tech Support

Section titled ā€œTech Supportā€

Original Source

Section titled ā€œOriginal Sourceā€

References

Section titled ā€œReferencesā€
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  7. 2014 - Graphene-reinforced mechanical properties of calcium silicate scaffolds by laser sintering [Crossref]
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