Electromagnetic and Electronic Aerospace Conformal Load-Bearing Smart Skins: A Review

Multifunctional composite structures (MFCS) have become an increasingly important field of research with the large-scale adoption of composite materials in many industrial sectors such as aerospace, automotive, sport and recreation equipment (bikes, scooters, etc.) and maritime. It is a diverse field which includes scientific areas in electromagnetics, electronics, material sciences, structures and structural augmentation, sensors, and thermal management. The paper investigates Conformal Load-bearing Smart Skins (CLSS) as a part of multifunctional composite structures specifically related to aerospace applications and focuses on the seamless incorporation and synergistic coexistence between electronic devices and composite materials. Current trends in materials and manufacturing processes, as well as measurement techniques used to validate both the electromagnetic and structural responses have been explored and discussed. Furthermore, it identifies some of the challenges and complexities associated with CLSS and explores future areas of research which still need to be addressed.