Evaluation of Electrical, Mechanical and Wear Behavior of Laminated Epoxy/Carbon Fiber Composite with Different Fillers

Abstract— Epoxy resin reinforced with carbon fibers are widely used in applications where requirements of lightness and high mechanical strength are needed. Composites containing fillers with different properties can improve important characteristics of components. In aerospace applications, the use of low removal rate due to the impact of suspense particles must be satisfied in order to reduce maintenance costs of components. Since carbon fibers have low electrical resistivity and are in the range of semiconductors, these composites can be used as radar absorbing materials (RAM). The addition of conductive fillers may increase this intrinsic property of the composite, and also improve the mechanical and wear properties of the laminate. Results showed that the addition of micronized graphite (MG), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and short steel fibers (SSF) reduce the weight loss on abrasion test, but reduce values of flexural module (except for the addition of 5% of MG). In terms of electrical properties, fillers showed tendency to increase the electrical conductivity mainly for reduce fraction of fillers added, showing that higher contents can produce a non-homogeneous structure since that the mechanical and wear properties were affect in the same order.