Multifunctional Carbon Fibre Tapes for Automotive Composites

Cabon fibre composites are used where mechanical performance such as strength, stiffness and impact properties at low density is a critical parameter for engineering applications. Carbon fibre flat tape is one material which is traditionally used to manufacture three-dimensional composites in this area. Modifying the carbon fibre tape to incorporate other functions such as stealth, electromagnetic interference, shielding, de-icing, self-repair, energy storage, allows us to create multi-functional carbon fibre tape. Researchers have been developing such material and the technology for their manufacture in order to produce multifunctional carbon fibre based components more economically and efficiently. This paper presents the manufacturing process of a metallised carbon fibre material for a chopped fibre preforming process that uses electromagnets for preforming instead of traditional suction airflow fibre deposition. In addition, the paper further presents mechanical and magneto-static modelling that is carried out to investigate the bending properties of the material produced and its suitability for creating 3D preforms.