Electrical Perculation of Expanded Graphite Filled PP/EPDM Nanocomposite in Relation to the Piezoresistive Behavior

Fundamental and applied studies of polymer composites have been receiving a lot of attention. Electrically conductive polymer composites (ECPCs) are of great interest to both thescientific and engineering communities because of their unique electrical and mechanical properties[1].In this study, electrical conductivity of expanded graphitefilled thermoplastic vulcanizate PP/EPDM (TPV) were investigated concerning their potential for strain sensingapplications with electrical conductivity methods. This paper aims to investigate the electromechanical response of thenanocomposite matrices subjected to mechanical load. It wasfound that the nanocomposites exhibit a distinct resistance vs. strain behavior in the regime of elastic deformation. It couldbe shown that the piezoresistivity of nanocomposites may contribute valuable information about the conductive networkstructure and charge carrier transport mechanisms occurring in the nanocomposites[2].