Determination of the anisotropic electrical conductivity of carbon fabric reinforced composites by the six-probe method

Currently, it is challenging to obtain consistent values for the anisotropic electrical conductivity of fabric ply based thermoplastic composites. In this study, the anisotropic electrical conductivity of this type of material was obtained by combining six-probe voltage measurements with a numerical evaluation method to process the voltage measurements. The effect of probe distance and specimen dimensions on the test results was investigated. The measurements show low specimen to specimen variability and the obtained electrical conductivities agree with values obtained by the rule of mixtures and the two-probe measurement method. The conducted research shows that with one experiment, both the in- and the out-of-plane electrical conductivity of polymer composites reinforced with carbon fabrics can be reliably determined, simultaneously.