Piezo-driven jet valve dispensing of carbon nanotube-loaded composites: optimisation and characterisation

Abstract A new class of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)/epoxy resin ink in dimethylacetamide is successfully printed using a piezo-driven jet valve dispensing system for the fabrication of flexible nanocomposites. The optimised ink prepared by solution mixing method with a viscosity (28.54 mPa⋅s), surface tension (31.3 mN/m), density (0.964 g/cm3), and 0.25 wt% SWCNT is obtained through design-of-experiments. The optimisation process is carried out focusing on the ink ejectability and the electrical properties of the resulting nanocomposites. An investigation of the electrical properties of the printed structures on glass and paper substrates is performed by analysing their sheet resistances. The resulting nanocomposite exhibits sheet resistances of 15 × 102 kΩ/sq and 0.11 kΩ/sq printed on glass and paper, respectively. Finally, the interlaminar fracture properties of the nanocomposites when integrated into glass fiber reinforced polymers are investigated. The median change of the energy release ratio GII,c is about 3%, with almost constant standard deviation. Graphical Abstract