Effect of conductive carbon black loading on properties of glutaraldehyde-cured natural rubber latex composite for flexible sensor applications

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This study investigated flexible piezoresistive sensors based on natural rubber (NR) latex and conductive carbon black (CCB) composites for monitoring human body motion, tactile sensing and soft robotic actuators. The study explores the effect of CCB content on the properties of NR latex composites, vulcanized by a low-temperature glutaraldehyde system. Mechanical and electrical properties of NR composites were investigated to achieve optimal piezoresistive sensor behavior to monitor human body motion. As expected, the Young's modulus, storage modulus, electrical conductivity and gauge factor of the composites increased by loading CCB content, although elongation at break decreased. Adding 15 phr of CCB exhibited the optimum tensile strength due to good dispersion of CCB, which was confirmed by the dispergrader test. Additionally, dynamic and quasi-static piezoresistive tensile tests showed that the composite with 15 phr of CCB had the highest sensitivity, supported by relative resistance change. As a proof of concept, the sensor was evaluated for human body motion (bending of a finger), soft tendon-based actuator and tactile sensing successfully. These findings highlight the adaptability of NR composites for various sensing applications through the use of a potential low-temperature curing system.

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