A carbon-glass hybrid fiber textile, fabricated by weaving continuous carbon and glass fibers simultaneously, is a unique reinforcement material that can compromise between performance and cost. It has long been known that carbon fiber-reinforced poly...
A carbon-glass hybrid fiber textile, fabricated by weaving continuous carbon and glass fibers simultaneously, is a unique reinforcement material that can compromise between performance and cost. It has long been known that carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites ? continuous or chopped ? exhibit piezoresistive behavior, characterized by an increase in electrical resistivity upon mechanical loading. However, studies on piezoresistivity due to intra-/inter-tow and interlaminar interactions have been limited, not to mention the piezoresistivity of carbon-glass hybrid fiber composites. This paper presents an investigation of the self-sensing behavior of carbon-glass hybrid fiber composites from a monofilament level to single-tow and woven-fiber composite levels. It was found that the overall piezoresistivity of hybrid fiber composites is affected by complex combinations of the intrinsic piezoresistivity behavior of a monofilament, radial shrinkage of tows, inter-tow contacts, and interlaminar resistance changes. The piezoresistivity behavior of woven carbon fiber-reinforced composites was also characterized to provide the reference data and to elucidate the unique self-sensing features of hybrid fiber composites. Carbon-glass hybrid fiber composites can serve as self-sensing structures in various fields, including aerospace and civil infrastructures, and the findings from the study allow the composite engineers to tailor the composite design.