ENHANCED ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES THROUGH INTEGRATION OF CNTs VIA BULK RESIN and/or BUCKYPAPER FILMS

摘要

This paper describes two approaches for the incorporation of CNTs into CFRP composites to increase their electrical conductivity (EC): The addition of CNTs to the resin bulk, to improve its properties prior to infusion, and the addition of CNTs as buckypaper on top of the CFRP structure for enhanced surface electrical properties. Several laminates were manufactured by resin infusion process based on BP only, on doped resin (0,1%wt) only, and also on the combination of both. SEM analysis, cross checked using through thickness EC and ILSS tests were performed to compare their properties and assess any possible filtering effects.