Developing power composite structures capable of energy harvesting and storage in addition to load bearing requires the integration of materials dissimilar physical property [1-3]. Recent progress is reported towards the fabrication of new multifunctional composites with the ability to store electrical energy in addition to single unifunctional load bearing.

In this presentation, the process to embed all-solid-state thin-film lithium energy cells into a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is reported. The performance of the integrated power composites is investigated. The mechanical properties of the multifunctional composite (modulus and strength) under quasi-static uniaxial loading conditions did not significantly deviate from those of the standard fully cured pure CFRP. The embedded energy cells in the multifunctional structure charged and discharged at baseline levels with force loadings of up to about 50% of the CFRP tensile strength.

References

[1] T. Pereira, R. Scaffaro, S. Nieh, J. Arias, Z. Guo and H. T. Hahn, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2006, 16, 2714-2721.

[2] T. Pereira, R. Scaffaro, Z. Guo, S. Nieh, J. Arias and H. T. Hahn, Advanced Engineering Materials, 2008, 10(4) 393-399.

[3] T. Pereira, Z. Guo, S. Nieh, J. Arias and H. T. Hahn, Composites Science and Technology, 2008, 68, 1935-1941.