Fiber reinforced polymer composites are used in a wide variety of applications such asaerospace, military and defense, and wind energy production. These composites form structuralcomponents on aircraft fuselage and wings as well as control surfaces, helicopter rotors, andwind turbine blades. These applications expose the material to solid particle erosion damagewhich can reduce the performance of the material as well as shorten the materials lifespan. Inthis study, a novel method of fabricating nanoparticle thin films or nanopapers for use as asurface protective layer for fiber reinforced polymer composites was developed. Inclusion ofthese nanopapers through current manufacturing methods has shown increases in solid particleerosion protection of up to 7x. The nanopapers have also shown to increase surface electricalconductivity by as much as 16 orders of magnitude.
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