Damage detection and self-healing of carbon fiber polypropylene (CFPP)/carbon nanotube (CNT) nano-composite via addressable conducting network

In this work, damage sensing and self-healing of carbon fiber polypropylene (CFPP)/carbon nanotube (CNT) nano-composite were performed based on addressable conducting network (ACN). To increase damage sensing resolution of CFPP/CNT nano-composite, through-thickness electrical conductivity was improved by adjusting press condition and spraying carbon nanotubes (CNT) between prepregs. From the results, electrical resistivity in thickness direction was reduced to 19.44 Ω·mm under 1.0 MPa and 1.0 wt% of CNT condition. Also, self-healing efficiency was examined with respect to the temperature and time via resistive heating of CFPP/CNT nano-composite. As a result, the optimized fabrication and self-healing condition exhibited high resolution of damage sensing with outstanding self-healing efficiency (96.83%) under fourth cycle of repeated three-point bending test.