Effect of Graphene Coating on Strain Sensing and Mechanical Performance of Glass Fibre-Reinforced Composites

High-performance composite structures are often exposed to external impacts and stresses resulting in hardly detectable defects and structural failure. In this work, novel fibre reinforced composites were developed by the incorporation of graphene (carbon nanomaterial) in the composite. It was shown that graphene induces deformation (strain) sensing behaviour in the composite. This sensing functionality enables predicting the failure and the remaining life of the composite structure. The reliability and repeatability of the composite sensors were determined using standardised testing methods. The effect of graphene on the mechanical properties of the composites was also investigated.