Enhanced delamination detection in multifunctional composites through nanofiller tailoring

Delamination detection is challenging but vital to ensuring the safety of an increasing number of structures utilizing laminated composites. Laminated composites manufactured with nanocomposite matrices show incredible potential for enhanced material properties including electrical conductivity which can be leveraged for conductivity-based damage identification. Advances in nanotechnology also enable the development of materials engineered at micro-scales for specific macro-scale applications. This research capitalizes on that approach by exploring how micro-scale manipulation of nanofillers can bolster structural-scale damage identification. An equivalent resistor network model is developed to predict nanocomposite conductivity as a function of filler alignment. Next, electrical impedance tomography is employed to locate delamination damage. It is found that aligning nanofillers at an angle through the thickness of a plate markedly enhances sensitivity to delamination damage. This demonstrates that powerful insights can be gleaned from the micro-scale tailoring approach to material design to radically enhance structural-scale damage identification.