Self-heating fiber reinforced polymer composite using meso/macropore carbon nanotube paper and its application in deicing

A meso/macropore carbon nanotube paper (CNP) and a self-heating fiber reinforced polymer composite of CNP/glassfiber/epoxy (CGE) based on the meso/macropore CNP were fabricated in this article. The pore diameters mainly distribute from 30 to 90 nm characterized using nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77 K. The electric conductivities of the CNP and CGE composite are 77.8 and 64.9 S cm−1. Electric heating performance of CGE was investigated at different heat flux densities, wind speed and ambient temperature. A uniform temperature distributed was observed on the surface of CGE detected by an infrared temperature camera. The electric heating performance was verified by deicing a certain amount of ice at different heat flux densities under two kinds of ambient conditions: −22 °C without wind and −22 °C with 14 m/s of the wind speed. The deicing time under the two conditions were less than 220 and 450 s, respectively. The feasibility of the deicing performance was demonstrated through a series of experiments and the results indicate this material is a promising candidate as an electric heating material for deicing.