Proceedings Paper for the 60th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference at AIAA SciTech 2020 Orlando, Florida, USA 6-10 January 2020 2020

AIAA 2020-0152

Strain and Damage Sensing in Polymer-Bonded Energetics through Piezoresistive MWCNT Networks

Nishant Shirodkar and Gary D. Seidel
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0203, USA

This experimental study demonstrates the strain and damage sensing abilities of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) networks embedded in the polymer binder of polymer bonded energetics. Ammonium perchlorate powder was used as the energetic particulate. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes were added to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomeric polymer binder, and hybrid polymer bonded energetics were fabricated. Two different material compositions were considered and mechanically and electrically characterized based on the stress-strain response along with their piezoresistive response under monotonic uniaxial tension to failure and compression tests. The piezoresistive response i.e. the change in resistance and reactance as a function of applied strain, showed a distinct change corresponding to change in the mechanical response thereby clearly demonstrating the MWCNT network’s ability to sense strain and damage in energetic materials. Results observed in this study validate strain/damage sensing applications of dispersed carbon nanotube sensing networks in elastomer-bonded energetics.