Impact Damage Identification in Glass Fiber/Epoxy Laminates with Carbon Black Filler via Electrical Impedance Tomography

Electrically conductive nanocomposites have incredible potential for integrated structural damage identification when employed as matrices in structural fiber-reinforced composites. That is, because nanocomposites could consist of well-connected nanofiller networks with conductivity, matrix damage that severs the nanofiller network will manifest as a conductivity loss. Locating damage-induced conductivity losses is therefore tantamount to locating damage. In this regard, well-dispersed nanofiller networks can be thought of as pervasive and integrated sensor networks. This research explores this approach by utilizing electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to locate impact damage of a glass fiber/epoxy laminate plate manufactured with carbon black (CB) filler. It is found that EIT can successfully locate impact damage thereby demonstrating the potential of conductivity-based damage identification in structural composites with nanocomposite matrices.