3D printing is getting remarkable consideration in recent years in miscellaneous areas and being focused in many hi-tech future possibilities in engineering ^1,2. 3D printable conductive polymer composites are gaining massive interest due to their impending application in the field of robotics, tactile, optical displays, microelectrochemical systems and in numerous other applications ^3-5. Here in this work we prepared new types of 3D printable nanocomposites with tunable flexibility employing ionic liquid (IL) and micro-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in polymer matrix. The developed soft nanocomposites demonstrated high conductivity and mechanical flexibility and diverse strain%. Thermal properties of the nanocomposites were studied by TGA and we found that thermal stability were very high for all nanocomposites regardless of the composition. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed information about their transition temperature for softening and by modifying MWCNT and polymeric content it is possible to tune this temperature according to desired requirements. The nanocomposites were printed by FDM 3D printer freely and on nonconductive printed base substrate according to the required shape. We also investigated their mechanical and conductive properties by tuning the composition of the constituents in the nanocomposites and discussed about the critical compositions and limitations for 3D printing techniques. These newly developed nanocomposites are expected to create pronounced impact in electromechanical fields to develop soft robotics, actuator and sensor devices.

References

1. Kalsoom, U., Nesterenko, P. N. & Paull, B. Recent developments in 3D printable composite materials. RSC Adv. 6, 60355–60371 (2016).
2. Gross, B. C., Erkal, J. L., Lockwood, S. Y., Chen, C., Spence, D. M. Evaluation of 3D Printing and Its Potential Impact on Biotechnology and the Chemical Sciences. (2014).
3. Wei, X., Li, D., Jiang, W., Gu, Z., Wang, X., Zang, Z., Sun, Z., 3D Printable Graphene Composite. Publ. Gr. 1–7 (2015). doi:10.1038/srep11181
4. Guo, S., Qiu, K., Meng, F., Park, S. H. & Mcalpine, M. C. 3D Printed Stretchable Tactile Sensors. Mater. 29, 1701218 (2017).
5. Muth, J. T., Vogt, D. M., Truby, R. L., Mengüç, Y.,Kolesky, D. B., Wood, R. J., Lewis, J. A., Embedded 3D Printing of Strain Sensors within Highly Stretchable Elastomers. Mater. 26, 6307–6312 (2014).