Present a new type of self-heating composite based on carbon nanotubes paper and investigate the feasibility in deicing (presentation video)

Abstract

In this paper, a novel self-heating composite material utilizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) paper is designed and fabricated successfully. The carbon nanotube paper was prepared by multiple steps of CNTs dispersion and suspension filtration as shown in Fig1. a and characterized by scanning electron microscopy thermo gravimetric analysis nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77K and so on. The surface of the as-prepared CNTs paper is smooth and very flexible. The conductivity of the CNTs paper could be regulated from 30 S/cm to 200 S/cm. The fabricating process of the self-heating is shown in Fig.1 b and the electric heating performance under different ambient temperature, power changing from 4.3W to 44.8W and wind speed ranging from 8m/s to 14m/s was discussed. In addition, the feasibility of the application in the deicing of the composite was simulated by the software of Fluent. The thermal behavior was discussed combining the experimental and simulated values, especially the temperature field distribution under different wind speed. The maximum heating rate can reach 2℃/s under different condition. The equilibrium temperature and energy consumption of the composite at different power compared with the commercial kanthal electric heating film were also investigated. The energy consumption of the self-heating material is less than the kanthal electric heating film to reach the same equilibrium temperature which may be caused by the difference of heat capacity. The experimental and simulated results indicate the electric heating performance of CNTs paper-based composite is superior to the commercial kanthal electric heating film and has feasibility in the field of deicing.