Soft, wearable or printable strain sensors derived from conductive polymer nanocomposites (CPNs) are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in personal-care applications. Common elastomers employed in the fabrication of such piezoresistive CPNs frequently rely on chemically cross-linked polydiene or polysiloxane chemistry, thereby generating relatively inexpensive and reliable sensors that become solid waste upon application termination. Moreover, the shape anisotropy of the incorporated conductive nanoparticles can produce interesting electrical effects due to strain-induced spatial rearrangement. In this study, we investigate the morphological, mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical properties of CPNs generated from thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) triblock copolymer systems containing vapor-grown carbon nanofiber (CNF). Modulus-tunable TPE gels imbibed with a midblock-selective aliphatic oil exhibit well-behaved properties with increasing CNF content, but generally display nonlinear negative piezoresistance at different strain amplitudes and stretch rates due to nanofiber mobility upon CPN strain-cycling. In contrast, a neat TPE possessing low hard-block content yields a distinctive strain-reversible piezoresistive response, as well as low electrical hysteresis, upon cyclic deformation. Unlike their chemically cross-linked analogs, these physically cross-linked and thus environmentally benign CPNs are fully reprocessable by thermal and/or solvent means.

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In this study, jute fiber/thermoplastic starch based (TPS) biocomposites were fabricated by using a novel mixing method. Dry mixing of filler and matrix was carried out by using a planetary high shear mixer. Various levels of fillers were used in order to observe the effect of fiber ratio on mechanical, structural and thermal properties of the composites. Both tensile strength and elastic modulus values of biocomposites were found to be improved by incorporation of jute fibers. The enhancement was attributed to the reinforcing effect of jute fibers and strong interphase between the filler and polymeric matrix that was also shown by morphology and FTIR analysis. In addition to those, thermal stability of the TPS composites increased by addition of the jute filler.