Carbon nanotube film (CNTF) was used as an electric heating element to study the deicing and electrothermal properties of carbon nanotubes(CNTF) on the surface of glass fiber resin matrix composites.SEM result showed that the samples were intertwined by carbon nanotubes with large porosity.The thickness of CNTF was about 14 µm.The XDR results showed that the samples were microcrystalline,poor crystallinity and small amount of impurity.CNTF was electried in air,the rate of heating and the maximum constant temperature increase rapidly with the increase of input voltage.When the input voltage is 5 V,the heating rate of the first 100 s is 0.91 ℃/s and reaches the maximum constant temperature 95 ℃ at 180 s.After four cycles of electrothermal cycling, the surface resistance increased slightly,the mean value was from 2.795 Ω to 3.870 Ω.The CNTF was rapidly burned off at 9 V input voltage.The current carrying limit of CNTF sample is 1.8 A. Deicing is carried out by using its Joule thermal property. The time of 20 g ice falling off the surface of resin matrix glass fiber composite is 240 s.It is proved that it is feasible to deicing by using the electrothermal characteristics of CNTF.