Preparation of Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Composite Foam with High Resilience Performance via Fused Filament Fabrication and CO₂ Foaming Technique

Abstract

Wearable flexible sensors with high sensitivity and wide detection range are applied in motion detection, medical diagnostic result and other fields, but poor resilience and hysteresis remain a challenge. In this study, a high-resilience foam sensor was prepared through a combination of additive manufacturing and green physical foaming method. The conductive filaments were prepared by using MWCNTs-modified TPU by the physical method of melt blending. Samples were prefabricated using the FFF printer and then saturated with CO2 in an autoclave before being removed and heated to foam. The composite foam effectively reduced residual strain, demonstrating the high resilience of the 3D-printed composite materials with a foam porous structure. The residual strain of the sample before foaming was >6% after a single cycle, and then gradually increased. The residual strain of the foamed samples is less than 5%. In addition, composite foam has high sensitivity and can monitor subtle pressure changes (0~40 kPa). The sensing performance of the composite foam was evaluated, and the current signal remained stable under different loading rates and small compression strains (2~5%). By using this highly resilient conductive composite material, a hierarchical shoe insole was designed that successfully detected human walking and running movements.

Keywords

• fused filament fabrication
• thermoplastic polyurethane
• multi-walled carbon nanotubes
• CO₂ foaming
• mechanical properties
• sensor