Determination of carbon nanotubes penetration level into epoxy-woven glass fibre composite laminates manufactured with vacuum infusion process via electrical conductivity measurement

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the carbon nanotube (CNT) penetration phenomenon in vacuum infusion (VI) process by means of electrical conductivity measurement. Effects of resin temperature, CNT content, and the processing technique on the overall composite laminate quality were investigated by monitoring electrical properties of composite sheets. Epoxy/woven glass fibre composites loaded with various CNT contents were also manufactured using compression moulding and vacuum bagging techniques for comparison purposes. VI was achieved at two different temperatures (25°C and 50°C) to study the effect of variation in viscosity on CNT penetration during infusion. The results showed that electrical conductivity measurement was a very effective tool to assess the CNT penetration state of composite laminates in VI method. Both the resistive and capacitive behaviour in composite laminates due to filtration of CNTs at higher CNT contents was observed. However, the CNT penetration was improved by increasing the temperature of epoxy/CNT mixture before the infusion.