Electrically and Thermally Conductive Carbon Fibre Fabric Reinforced Polymer Composites Based on Nanocarbons and an In-situ Polymerizable Cyclic Oligoester

Abstract

There is growing interest in carbon fibre fabric reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites based on a thermoplastic matrix, which is easy to rapidly produce, repair or recycle. To expand the applications of thermoplastic CFRP composites, we propose a process for fabricating conductive CFRP composites with improved electrical and thermal conductivities using an in-situ polymerizable and thermoplastic cyclic butylene terephthalate oligomer matrix, which can induce good impregnation of carbon fibres and a high dispersion of nanocarbon fillers. Under optimal processing conditions, the surface resistivity below the order of 10(+10) Omega/sq, which can enable electrostatic powder painting application for automotive outer panels, can be induced with a low nanofiller content of 1 wt%. Furthermore, CFRP composites containing 20 wt% graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were found to exhibit an excellent thermal conductivity of 13.7 W/m.K. Incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotubes into CFRP composites is more advantageous for improving electrical conductivity, whereas incorporating GNPs is more beneficial for enhancing thermal conductivity. It is possible to fabricate the developed thermoplastic CFRP composites within 2 min. The proposed composites have sufficient potential for use in automotive outer panels, engine blocks and other mechanical components that require conductive characteristics.