Materials & Design (Jun 2024)

Fabrication of carbon fiber/cement composites with controllable precise patterned structures via facile computerized embroidery

  • Haiping Wu,
  • Sirui Tan,
  • Xueling Zheng,
  • Zhong Zhao,
  • Maolin Wang,
  • Qun Ma,
  • Jing Wu,
  • Daiqi Li

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 242
p. 113017

Abstract

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Carbon fibers exhibit good electrothermal performance; however, they break easily during the weaving process. This study used a facile computerized embroidery process to design and fabricate carbon fibers with controllable and precise patterned structures. The obtained carbon fiber/cement composites (CFCs) exhibited excellent electrothermal performance (100 ℃ under 30 V), low energy consumption (400 mW/℃), and homogeneous heat distribution with a unique heating element (carbon fibers) structure. The difference between the maximum and average surface temperatures improved, and the surface heat distributions of the CFCs under different structures were determined using a finite element simulation. CFCs with different complex heat element structures were successfully fabricated, and the mechanism regulating the heat distribution of the CFCs was revealed. Embroidery technology provides a novel strategy for the fabrication of carbon fiber/cement composite materials with a controllable carbon fiber structure, thereby significantly broadening the application of cement composites for electrothermal applications.

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