Structural Health Monitoring for Carbon Fiber/Carbon Nanotube (CNT)/Epoxy Composite Sensor

Structural health monitoring for carbon nanotube (CNT)/carbon fiber/epoxy composite was verified by the measurement of electrical resistivity. This study has focused on the preparation of carbon nanotube composite sensors and their application for structural health monitoring. The change of the electrical resistance was measured by a digital multimeter under tensile loads. Although a carbon fiber was broken, the electrical connection was still kept by distributed CNT particles in the model composites. As the number of carbon fiber breakages increased, electrical resistivity was stepwise increased. The CNT composites were well responded with fiber damages during the electro-micromechnical test. Carbon nanotube composites can be useful sensors for structural health monitoring to diagnose a structural safety and to prevent a collapse.