Design and implementation of a controlled heater system for the investigation of thermoresistive properties of polymer nanocomposites

Abstract The design and implementation of a controlled technique for heating polymer nanocomposites is here presented. The device consists on a heating system controlled by a program developed and implemented in LabVIEW, which is able to precisely increase the temperature within a range of 25 °C–100 °C. The temperatures of both the heating system and the nanocomposite sample were simultaneously captured and serve as inputs to properly control the energy supply to the system. The experimental setup shows excellent uniformity, reproducibility and control of the sample temperature, being of paramount importance for the evaluation of the thermoresistive properties of the nanocomposites. As a proof of concept, the exploration of thermoresistive response of polymer nanocomposites filled with graphene sheets was carried out. Preliminary registers of thermal coefficients of resistance in the order of values reported for similar materials demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented setup. The presented system adequately performed as an accessible and low-cost option to explore thermoresistive properties of polymeric nanocomposite samples in film geometry.