The role of electrical anisotropy and effective conducting thickness in understanding and interpreting static resistance measurements in CFRP composite laminates

This study is focused on (i) the experimental characterization of the anisotropic electrical resistivity of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites and (ii) the development and experimental validation of predictive finite element (FE) models of the electrical response in CFRP laminates based on the concept of the effective conducting thickness. Two experimental methods have been developed to characterize the anisotropic electrical resistivities in three principle directions for the CFRP composite laminates using a direct current source. One method utilizes a traditional 6-probe resistance scheme and the alternative point-type 4-probe method is based on a handheld probe device similar to the JIS K7194 standard for homogenous plastics. An extensive experimental study has been conducted to characterize the anisotropic electrical resistivities of 16-ply unidirectional and 16-ply symmetric cross-ply IM7/977-2 and 32-ply unidirectional IM7/977-3 composites using the developed methods. Exploiting the concept of the effective conducting thickness, which describes the effective depth of current penetration through the thickness of an electrically anisotropic material, a unique methodology is developed for constructing FE models of these highly anisotropic CFRP materials. The concept of effective conducting thickness was identified as a critical component in achieving accuracy of the FE results as well as recovery of experimental resistivity from the alternative point-type 4-probe method. The FE models have been validated using the experimental results on the CFRP specimens of varying layup and thickness, and the techniques developed in this work may lead to advancements in non-destructive techniques in the areas of electrical characterization and damage sensing.