Abstract
Carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP)has the superior properties such as specific strength and stiffness compared with conventional metallic materials. CFRP is usually used as a laminated structure, and CFRP has also electric conductivity. When a dielectric layer is inserted between the CFRP plies, we can use the CFRP structure as a capacitor by utilizing CFRP as electrodes. This is a kind of multifunctional composites, and is called CFRP structural capacitor. CFRP structural capacitor has the potential of substituting some batteries or electric double layer capacitors(EDLC).The weight and space of batteries can be reduced and the cost is also reduced because batteries are usually very much expensive. For practical application, we have to study both mechanical and electrical properties. In the present paper, electrical properties of the structural capacitor is investigated. The conductivity of the CFRP is lower compared with conventional metallic materials. This indicates that the internal electrical resistance of the capacitor can be crucial to CFRP structural capacitor. The internal electrical resistance is calculated using electrical current analysis of the CFRP structural capacitor. To reduce the internal resistance by changing many parameters. As a result, CFRP structural capacitors should be connected in parallel, and matrix like electrodes should be used to reduce the internal resistance.
