Utility of whiskerized carbon fabric surfaces in resistive heating of composites

Abstract In the present study, the embedding ZnO nano‐whiskers (NWs) on carbon fiber (CF) surface was carried out to study the changes in Ohmic heating and mechanical stability of carbon fabric reinforced green epoxy composite laminates. The ZnO NWs were grown onto the CF surface by hydrothermal method and subsequently the laminate composites with different number of carbon woven layers were prepared. To study the resistive heating behavior of the laminate composites, the temperature versus time curves were analyzed in three sections, from which the temperature response rate, the maximum temperature, and the electrical power efficiency were estimated. Later, the effects of Ohmic heating action on the structural damage and mechanical stability of the composites were examined by dynamic mechanical analysis and X‐ray micro computerized tomography. Multilayer ZnO/carbon woven composites were found to be rapidly heating, less power consumption, and have improved mechanical and structural stability over bare carbon woven composites. This indicated that ZnO NWs enhanced the adhesion between the fibers and matrix, meanwhile acting as a heat barrier to avoid degradation of the epoxy at the interface of the fiber and matrix during Ohmic heating.