Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

Kuang-Ting, Hsiao, Ph.D.

Abstract

A film adhesive is commonly used to form the bond-line between composite parts. The bond-line's quality and performance can be affected by defects such as voids, impurities, and agglomerations. Identifying these defects is possible with non-destructive evaluation testing (NDE). In this thesis, the joule-heating effect (JH) through carbon nanofiber (CNF) and carbon nanotube (CNT) modified film adhesive bonded to control carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CCFRP) was used along with infrared thermography testing (IRT) for bond-line defect inspection as a preliminary study. Due to the difference in the electrical conductivity between the modified epoxy and the defect, JH can cause a difference in temperature that can be viewed by IRT. The percentage of carbon nanofiller in a film adhesive is related to its electrical conductivity. A three-dimensional (3D) printed acrylonitrile butadiene (ABS) equilateral triangle defect was used. A more in-depth investigation was conducted to determine how both the number of plies and z-threaded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (ZTCFRP) can influence the defect image. Flash thermography (F-IRT) was used to provide a comparison against this NDE method.

Download

Share

COinS