Effect of Carbon Nanotube Grafting Onto Carbon Fibre on the Conductivity of Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Thermoplastic Laminates

Abstract

Carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP) can be expected to be used as a structural material for aircraft and automobiles, due to not only mechanical properties such as high specific strength and high specific rigidity, but also for their high recyclability and short moulding time. When lightning hits directly upon an airplane body made from CFRTP, the lightning current does not spread isotropically, which is different from a conductor, causing exterior damage and malfunction of the internal electronic equipment. In recent years, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were expected to improve the mechanical properties and conductivity of composite materials, due to their excellent mechanical properties, conductivity and high aspect ratio. In this study, we evaluated the effect of CNT grafting onto carbon fibres, on the conductivity of CFRTP. CNT-grafted carbon fibres showed lower resistance values in the X and Y directions compared to carbon fibre alone. Although the resistance of CFRTP laminates using CNT-grafted carbon fibre in the X direction had the same value of CFRTP laminates using control as-received carbon fibre, we found that the resistance of CFRTP laminates using CNT-grafted carbon fibre in both the Y and Z directions had lower values.