Design and Manufacture of Nanofibers Using Electrospinning Technique for Aerospace Application

Abstract

In this study, Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafine fibers was fabricated by electro spinning equipment using rotating collector drum with different weight percentage of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT). The fabricated PVDF-MWCNT fiber has embedded to a glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) for structural health monitoring of composite structures. GFRP is non-conductive material. However, by adding (or) embedding conductive PVDF-MWCNT nanocomposites, measuring its relative electrical resistance can be achieved. This study assesses the use of piezo resistive effect and conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNT) for in-suit measurement of electrical resistance measurements and strain measurement of carbon fiber are correlated for sensing and damage monitoring purpose. The PVDF-MWCNT fiber and PVA-MWCNT fiber embedded in GFRP were evaluated and compared. Its first time PVDF-MWCNT fiber is used in composite material for sensing the damages; hence embedded sensor will downgrade the fatigue life of the composite structures usually, but in this investigation PVDF-MWCNT focus on not to downgrade the material’s mechanical properties. The manufactured specimens were subjected to various incremental loading and unloading tensile test. During mechanical loading and unloading processes the corresponding electrical resistance was monitored simultaneously, to assess the damage level in the structure.