An investigation of contact resistance between carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminate and printed silver electrode for damage monitoring

• Published in: Composites. Part A, Applied science and manufacturing Applied science and manufacturing, 2014-11, Vol.66, p.193-200
• Main Authors: Jeon, Eun-Beom, Fujimura, Takahiro, Takahashi, Kosuke, Kim, Hak-Sung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: A. Carbon fiber; Applied sciences; B. Adhesion; B. Electrical properties; Carbon fiber reinforced plastics; Contact resistance; E. Sintering; Electrodes; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Laminates; Nanostructure; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Scanning electron microscopy; Silver; Sintering; Technology of polymers
• ISSN: 1359-835X; 1878-5840
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesa.2014.08.002

An addressable conducting network (ACN) enables the structural condition to be monitored by the electrical resistance between electrodes on surface of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) structure. To improve the reliability of ACN for damage detection, the contact resistance between the electrodes and CFRP laminates needs to be minimized. In this paper, the silver nanoparticles electrodes were fabricated via printed electronics techniques on CFRP composite. The contact resistance between the silver electrodes and CFRP was measured with respect to various fabrication conditions such as the sintering temperature of silver nanoink and the surface roughness of CFRP laminates. The interfaces between silver electrode and carbon fibers were observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). From the study, it was found that the lowest contact resistance of 0.3664Ω could be achieved when the sintering temperature of the silver nanoink and surface roughness were 120°C and 230nm, respectively.