LAUSR

Several ice protection strategies have been developed to overcome the icing hazards in the aerospace industry. The electro-thermal method is one of the popular approaches to prevent ice accretion and accumulation on aircraft surfaces. Given the increasing requirement of composites on aircraft structures, metal frameworks/fibre-reinforced composites have been developed as a de-icing solution for the new generation aircraft. The present work aimed to fabricate self-heating multi-wall carbon nanotubes based composites for ice protection and to study their electro-thermal and mechanical characteristics. Carbon nanotube buckypapers (CNPs) were prepared and embedded in fibre reinforced polymer composites by two methods: pre-preg and resin impregnation. The influence of the carbon nanotube network structure on the mechanical properties and electrical characteristics of the composites was evaluated. Mechanical tests, three-point flexural test and interlaminar shear strength test demonstrated improved mechanical characteristics of the CNP based composites. De-icing performance of the composites was conducted through a heating test in a climate chamber at −20℃. The results indicated that the CNP-based composite is a promising self-heating material candidate for ice protection systems.