CAREER: Self-Sensing and Sensitivity: Advanced Composites for Traditional Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE)

这项教师早期职业发展（Career）计划拨款为纤维增强复合材料的开发研究提供资金，这些材料易于使用标准无损评估技术进行检测。非破坏性评估检测结构中的损伤，就像医生的x射线检测骨折一样，这种技术对各种工业和商业结构（如飞机和管道）的安全至关重要。金属结构的无损检测是一种常见的检测方法，但在非金属体系中的应用具有很大的挑战性。为了应对这一挑战，将采用为自我修复材料开发的方法。将对含有微胶囊造影剂的材料进行处理，以便在对纤维增强聚合物复合材料进行磁性和x射线检查时更容易发现损伤。这项研究将从用于医疗诊断的纳米颗粒造影剂中获得灵感，并将其应用于先进的复合材料。造影剂将被合成并集成到材料中，同时，这些造影剂的传感系统将被开发。如果成功，这项研究将使复合材料损伤的定量分析使用高度接受的，容易获得的非破坏性评估技术。这将提高复合材料的安全性和可靠性。更轻、更高效的结构将成为可能，因为工程师们基于改进的结构损伤检测获得了信心。本研究的研究生和本科生将参与一个结合固体力学、仪器仪表和材料化学的跨学科项目，研究结果将发表在期刊上，并在国内和国际会议上发表。教育举措包括在工程课程中进行同伴指导和其他自我指导技术，以培养创造力并提高STEM学生的保留率。这项研究的各个方面将被整合到本科和研究生课程以及高中学生的工程夏令营中。研究的所有课程材料和演示将通过研究小组的网站提供。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program grant provides funding for research on the development of fiber-reinforced composite materials that are easy to inspect using standard non-destructive evaluation techniques. Non-destructive evaluation detects damage in structures, much as a doctor's x-ray detects a broken bone and such techniques are critical to the safety of a wide variety of industrial and commercial structures such as airplanes and pipelines. Nondestructive evaluation is common for metallic structures, but its application in non-metallic systems is much more challenging. To address this challenge, approaches developed for self-healing materials will be adopted. Materials will be processed that contain microencapsulated contrast agents to make damage easier to detect during magnetic and x-ray inspection of fiber-reinforced polymer composites. This research will take inspiration from nanoparticle-based contrast agents used for medical diagnostics and will apply them to advanced composites. The contrast agents will be synthesized and integrated into the materials and, in parallel, sensing systems for these contrast agents will be developed.If successful, this research will enable quantitative analysis of damage in composites using highly accepted, readily available non-destructive evaluation techniques. This will improve the safety and reliability of composites. Lighter, more efficient structures would be enabled as engineers gain confidence based on improved damage detection in the structures they create. Graduate and undergraduate students in this research will be part of an interdisciplinary project combining solid mechanics, instrumentation and materials chemistry and the results will be published in journals and presented at national and international conferences. Educational initiatives include peer-based instruction and other self-directed techniques in engineering courses that will foster creativity and improve retention of STEM students. Aspects of this research will be integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses as well as an engineering summer camp for high school students. All course materials and demonstrations from the research will be available through the research group's website.