Requirements of amount of carbon nanotubes for damage detection in large polymer composite structures |
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| Institution: | 1. Concordia Centre for Composites (CONCOM), Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd.W., Montreal, Quebec H3G1M8, Canada;2. Center for Applied Research on Polymers and Composites (CREPEC), Quebec, Canada;1. Academy of Opto-Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China;2. School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China;1. Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics UB RAS, Perm, Russia;2. Perm State University, Perm, Russia;3. Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research, Dresden, Germany;1. Department of Railway Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410075, China;2. Department of Engineering and Technology, Trelleborg IAVS, Leicester, LE4 2BN, UK;3. Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;1. Department of Material and Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland;2. Institute of Applied Computer Science, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland;3. University of Social Sciences, 90-113 Lodz, Poland;1. Laboratory of Plastics and Rubber Technology, Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1521 Budapest, P.O. Box 91, Hungary;2. Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1519 Budapest, P.O. Box 286, Hungary;1. Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Italy;2. Department of Electrical, Electronics, and Informatics Engineering, University of Catania, Viale A. Doria, 6-95125 Catania, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Due to their very high electrical conductivity, the addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into polymers such as epoxies makes these materials conductive. This conductivity has been utilized to provide damage sensing in composite structures. Usually, the amount of CNTs needs to be more than the percolation threshold to assure electrical conductivity. The percolation threshold is usually determined using small samples. For large samples, the amount of CNTs needs to be higher to take into account some non-uniformity of the dispersion. More CNTs would provide better conductivity. One normally expects that more CNTs would also provide better damage detection. However, it was found that this is not the case. Certainly, the amount of CNTs needs to be more than a certain lower limit to assure conductivity throughout the large structures. Once this condition is met, adding more CNTs would reduce the sensitivity for damage detection. The sensitivity of damage detection can be measured by the change in electrical resistance (due to the occurrence of damage) between grid points that are attached on the surface of the composite structure. Higher sensitivity in damage detection would enable coarse grids (larger distance between grid points). Coarse grid points would mean lower number of grid points, less space, less wiring and less weight. This paper describes this phenomenon in detail. It provides models that simulate the conductivity configurations. It also introduces a new term call “Aggregately Conductive Materials” to distinguish the particular conductive characteristics of materials that are made conductive by the addition of nano-particles. |
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| Keywords: | Nano-structures Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs) Electrical properties Mechanical testing |
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