Reduced graphene oxide modified Ti/CFRP structure-function integrated laminates for surface Joule heating and deicing

With the innovation of full electrification/multiple electrification of aircraft in the future, electric energy will become the main input of energy consumption for deicing. In this work, intelligent deicing laminates composed by reduced graphene oxide (RGO) modified Ti/CFRP (Ti/RGO/CFRP) are developed. The laminates were manufactured by utilizing vacuum assisted resin infusion (VARI) technique. Both deicing performance and mechanical properties were studied subsequently. It is found that the addition of RGO effectively improved the electrical conductivity and thermal diffusivity of CFRP composites. Electrical conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the RGO/CFRP composites increase by 160.48 % and 87.41 % respectively with only 0.07 wt% RGO addition. Besides, the deicing efficiency of the laminates were calculated as high as 98.75 % with 1.5 V DC voltage loading at −10 °C condition, and a rapid deicing time were achieved at 103 s. More remarkably, the deicing time of the laminates in the 30 icing/deicing cycles is relatively stable and its mechanical properties are slightly improved, indicating that the Ti/RGO/CFRP laminates can be promising materials as a long-term and high-efficiency electrothermal deicing aircraft skin.