Application of carbon filament (CF) for structural health monitoring of textile reinforced thermoplastic composites

Textile reinforced composites are a leading trend in lightweight structure design. The demand for additional function integration for the online health monitoring of lightweight structures using multimaterial design is growing rapidly. Carbon filament (CF) seems to be the simplest, most cost effective and most durable functional element for use in textile reinforced composites as a strain sensor. This paper reports on the production of functional hybrid yarn made with DREF-2000 friction spinning using CF yarn as the core component and polypropylene fibres as the sheath component. A comparative study was performed on the suitability of friction spun hybrid yarn and as spun CF yarn (i.e. in the form received from the manufacturer). The differences in electromechanical characteristics were analysed specifically for glass/polypropylene thermoplastic composite applications. Moreover, various types of connectors of CFs were also investigated.