Resistance Heating for Self-healing Composites

Abstract

Thermally remendable polymers have recently become available that are paving the way for the creation of self-healing composites. This article investigates the use of carbon fibers as a resistive heating network for future use in a self-healing composite. Various electrode methods are studied in an attempt to reduce the contact resistance that causes localized heating around the electrode. In addition to localized heating, electrical conduction through the fibers creates heat through composite resistance. It was observed that for short distances between electrodes, contact resistance dominates while over longer distances, composite resistance dominates. The balance between the two types of heating is measured and modeled using finite element modeling (FEM).