Self-Sensing of Damage Progression in Unidirectional Multiscale Hierarchical Composites Subjected to Cyclic Tensile Loading
J. J. Ku-Herrera,
O. F. Pacheco-Salazar,
C. R. Ríos-Soberanis,
G. Domínguez-Rodríguez,
F. Avilés
Affiliations
J. J. Ku-Herrera
Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C., Unidad de Materiales, Calle 43 No.130, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo. C.P. 97200, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
O. F. Pacheco-Salazar
Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C., Unidad de Materiales, Calle 43 No.130, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo. C.P. 97200, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
C. R. Ríos-Soberanis
Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C., Unidad de Materiales, Calle 43 No.130, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo. C.P. 97200, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
G. Domínguez-Rodríguez
Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C., Unidad de Materiales, Calle 43 No.130, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo. C.P. 97200, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
F. Avilés
Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C., Unidad de Materiales, Calle 43 No.130, Col. Chuburná de Hidalgo. C.P. 97200, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
The electrical sensitivity of glass fiber/multiwall carbon nanotube/vinyl ester hierarchical composites containing a tailored electrically-percolated network to self-sense accumulation of structural damage when subjected to cyclic tensile loading-unloading is investigated. The hierarchical composites were designed to contain two architectures differentiated by the location of the multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), viz. MWCNTs deposited on the fibers and MWCNTs dispersed within the matrix. The changes in electrical resistance of the hierarchical composites are associated to their structural damage and correlated to acoustic emissions. The results show that such tailored hierarchical composites are able to self-sense damage onset and accumulation upon tensile loading-unloading cycles by means of their electrical response, and that the electrical response depends on the MWCNT location.
