Experimental characterization of multifunctional polymer electrolyte coated carbon fibres

Journal article, 2019

Multifunctional structures like the structural energy storage are investigated for enhanced lightweight design. Polymer electrolyte coated carbon fibres (PeCCF) function as a battery halfcell, combining negative electrode and structural electrolyte of the energy storage. The new material combination results in unknown mechanical and multiphysical effective characteristics. Looking forward to future multifunctional CFRP structures made from PeCCF, an influence of the multiphysical PeCCF properties on the CFRP laminate characteristics is expected. This paper presents experimental work, focusing on the first multiphysical characterization of state of the art PeCCF. Thereby, physical effects like the thermo-mechanical coupling in a temperature domain of 193 K <T < 720 K and the temperature induction by resistive heating are characterized. Important finding is a temperature dependent complex modulus of the material compound, which is related to the temperature dependent mechanical behaviour of the polymer coating. In addition, the ability to adapt and to predict the materials temperature, which is influenced by resistive heating, is shown. Furthermore, first indications of durability of the coating after cyclic mechanical loading are presented. In addition, new experimental methods for PeCCF investigation are proposed, e.g. the application of conductive epoxy resin for electrical connections.