Experimental determination and modeling of electrical and thermal behaviour of CFRP composite materials

In this study, the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotube reinforcement on electrical and thermal properties of T800/M21 carbon fiber/epoxy composite material which is a carbon fiber reinforced plastic material is studied experimentally. The electrical conductivity of the composite materials with/without carbon nanotube is measured in the fiber direction, perpendicular to fiber direction and thickness direction and then the changes occurred in the electrical conductivity of the composite materials are investigated. It is found that the addition of carbon nanotube increases the electrical conductivity in all directions. In order to investigate thermal behavior of the composite materials, DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) and TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis) analyses are performed on the specimens. Later, the detailed thermal analysis is conducted for with/without carbon nanotube reinforced material to obtain the thermal conductivity, specific heat and thermal expansion coefficient of samples, In the results, it is seen that the carbon nanotube reinforcement has both positive and negative effects on the thermal properties. Finally, various models have been proposed by studying the electrical and thermal conductivities of T800 / M21 carbon fiber/epoxy composites with Abaqus 6.14 finite element analysis program.