Title: Roles of Carbon Nanofiber Alignment and Concentration for the Improvement of Z-Directional DC Electrical Conductivity of CNF Z-Threaded CFRP Laminates Manufactured Using a Radial Flow Alignment Technique

Authors: Bikash Ranabhat, Sebastian Kirmse, and Kuang-Ting Hsiao

DOI: 10.33599/nasampe/c.19.0756

Abstract: Metal and alloy mesh is primarily used for lightning strike protection (LSP) on the surface of composites. Although this kind of surface mesh technology provides the safety of the passenger, numerous issues persist such as structural damages, galvanic corrosion, structural weight. The development of new electrically conductive carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) is considered one of the future solutions to LSP. While carbon fibers typically have excellent electrical conductivity, the non-conductive polymer matrix that bonds carbon fibers together to form a CFRP composite adversely reduces the through-thickness directional (i.e., z-directional) electrical conductivity of a CFRP laminate; hence the potential of electrical conductivity of the excellent carbon fiber materials is substantially inhibited. Carbon nanofibers (CNFs), which have a much smaller diameter than carbon fibers and the length long enough to connect more than ten carbon fibers in the transversal direction, can be a candidate to penetrate through the non-conductive resin matrix and connect the individual carbon fibers in the preferred z-direction to form a multiscale conductive fibrous network. The objective of this research is to (1) align the carbon nanofibers in the z-direction with the radial flow alignment technique and use 0.5, 1, 2 wt% concentration of carbon nanofibers to manufacture CNF z-threaded CFRP samples, and (2) measure the through-thickness DC electrical conductivity. Increasing the CNF content in the CNF z-threaded CFRP samples gradually increases the through-thickness DC electrical conductivity. Experimental results showed +257 %, +461 % and +604 % increment in z-direction DC electrical conductivity compared to the control sample when the CNF concentration was increased to 0.5, 1, 2 wt%, respectively.

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Conference: CAMX 2019

Publication Date: 2019/09/23

SKU: TP19-0756

Pages: 11

Price: $22.00