Affiliations: Division of Production and Materials Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Fredrik Lundström, Production and Materials Engineering, Lund University, Ole Römers väg 1, SE-22363 Lund, Sweden. Tel.: +4646 222 43 61; E-mail:fredrik.lundstrom@iprod.lth.se
Abstract: Carbon fiber reinforced plastics, CFRP, are attractive materials not only
because of their strength and stiffness but also because of their electrical
conductivity and high thermal conductivity and diffusivity. One application
where induction heating of CFRP is particularly interesting is tools for
fast thermal cycling, beneficial in many industrial processes, for example
in composite manufacturing. The electrical properties make it possible to heat
with induction and the high thermal conductivity allows fast heat
equalization. In order to control inducting heating of CFRP it is desirable
to know the electrical and thermal properties of the composite. This work
presents developed experimental methods that are used in an investigation of
how the thermal and electrical properties of CFRP structures are affected by
the fiber properties and composite structure. The experiments and
simulations show that fiber type and fiber volume fraction are of great
importance for the electrical and thermal properties. The relation between
fiber volume fraction and equivalent resistivity is nonlinear and the
experiments indicate that a fiber volume fraction exceeding 60% is
necessary to achieve a fairly isotropic resistivity and uniform induction
heating pattern.
