Zhu, George2019-03-052019-03-052018-11-292019-03-05http://hdl.handle.net/10315/35896This study characterizes the behaviour and properties of self-sensing polymer nanocomposite. Specifically, we studied the Electrical, Mechanical and Piezoresistive properties. Electrically the material is conductive with a linear response to change in applied strain. Mechanically the material behaves like a polymer, whose Youngs Modulus increases with added MWCNT. From a piezoelectricalperspective this material is stable and can maintain its electrical and mechanical behaviour for 50 cycles of repeated loading at 2mm/min. When producing thin sheets of nanocomposite, the effects of material thickness on piezoresistivity are negligible. The nanocomposite is fabricated by mechanically mixing multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) with 2-part polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The randomly aligned MWCNT-PDMS is fabricated for two configurations, Type I and Type II. In these configurations, Type I is read longitudinal to force using 4-Probe method and Type II is read perpendicularly with 2-Probe method. The strain is applied to Type I in tension and Type II in compression. The Type I characterizes the bulk conductivity for varying wt% of MWCNT. The Type II looks at the sheet conductivity for varying thickness.enAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.NanotechnologyElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2019-03-05self sensingsmart materialnanocompositestrain sensorsmart sensormultifunctionalpiezoresistive sensorcarbon nanotubesPolydimethylsiloxanePDMSMWCNT