Nanofillers such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) are well known to significantly improve the properties of composites. In this work, CNTs were used as a reinforcing nanofiller in high-temperature vulcanized (HTV) silicone rubber, and room-temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber. At a low CNT content of 3 phr in HTV silicone rubber, the compressive and tensile moduli improved by 65% and 96%, respectively, and the resistance fell to 13 kΩ. Similarly, at 3 phr of CNT in RTV silicone rubber, the compressive and tensile moduli improved by 110% and 105%, respectively, and the resistance fell to 0.4 kΩ. The improved properties were used for applications in piezo-electric actuation and piezo-resistive strain sensors. With increase in voltage supply from 2 kV to 12 kV at 2 phr CNT, the piezoelectric actuation displacement increases to 920% (RTV silicone elastomer slab) and 1025% (HTV silicone elastomer slab). In addition, the rubber-based piezoresistive strain sensors showed a higher gauge factor with RTV silicone rubber than HTV silicone rubber. The piezoresistive strain sensors showed >100% stretchability. A series of experiments demonstrate that the use of CNTs improves the reinforcing, electrical properties, actuation, and strain sensors based on RTV and HTV silicone composites.

众所周知，诸如碳纳米管（CNT）的纳米填料可显着改善复合材料的性能。在这项工作中，CNT被用作高温硫化（HTV）硅橡胶和室温硫化（RTV）硅橡胶中的增强纳米填料。在HTV硅橡胶中，CNT含量低至3 phr时，压缩模量和拉伸模量分别提高了65％和96％，电阻降至13kΩ。类似地，在RTV硅橡胶中的CNT为3 phr时，压缩模量和拉伸模量分别提高了110％和105％，电阻降至0.4kΩ。改进后的特性可用于压电驱动和压阻应变传感器。随着2 phr CNT的电压供应从2 kV增加到12 kV，压电驱动位移增加到920％（RTV硅橡胶弹性体平板）和1025％（HTV硅橡胶弹性体平板）。此外，RTV硅橡胶的橡胶基压阻应变传感器比HTV硅橡胶的应变系数更高。压阻应变传感器显示出> 100％的可拉伸性。一系列实验表明，CNTs的使用可改善基于RTV和HTV有机硅复合材料的增强，电性能，致动和应变传感器。