Multifunctional Fibers for Damage Detection in Reinforced Composites

纤维增强聚合物复合材料通过提供更多更轻、更节能的材料，正在彻底改变结构材料的未来。 然而，这样的复合材料，是容易受到一些故障模式，它是很难识别的故障背后的原因，使用传统的无损评价技术，今天存在的。 本研究旨在开发一种新的方法来监测复合材料的完整性，使用压电传感器，可以将材料的变形转化为电信号。 通过解释这些信号，可以确定材料的使用寿命。 如果成功的话，这一进展将导致纤维增强聚合物复合材料使用的范式转变，通过将损伤检测传感器集成到材料中，使它们同时增强机械强度。更广泛的影响，该项目从无损评估和结构健康监测的进步，智能材料。拟议的教育和推广计划也是全面的。这项工作的重点是开发真正的多功能纤维增强复合材料，可以使用功能材料来增强强度并提供嵌入式损伤传感。本研究的主要目的是推进下一代结构复合材料制造和结构健康监测方法的当前技术水平。 该研究将进行一个基本的调查嵌入式和分布式SHM传感器在纤维增强复合材料的基础上最近开发的PI的压电晶须技术的发展。 该方法将寻求利用压电界面作为伪声发射系统，其中复合材料将产生电压输出，而不是跟踪作为声波的弹性能量的释放。 我们的研究将试图阐明这些独特的界面在损伤的存在下的行为，并开发实验方法来探测材料的机械完整性。 提出的复合材料损伤检测方案的发展将提供一个关键的工具，以提高这一不断增长的材料类别的安全性。此外，这些过程可以通过放弃基于计划的维护而进行基于数据的维修来降低维护成本。除了这项工作的经济影响之外，接口无处不在，开发的工具将为电子，催化和其他不同材料之间的粘合相关的应用提供现代材料研究方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Fiber reinforced polymer composites are revolutionizing the future of structural materials by providing more materials that are lighter and more energy efficient. Such composite materials, however, are susceptible to a number of failure modes and it is difficult to identify the reasons behind the failures using the traditional nondestructive evaluation techniques that exist today. This research seeks to develop a new approach to monitor the integrity of composite materials using piezoelectric sensors that can convert deformations of material into electrical signals. By interpreting these signals, it may be possible to determine a material's operational lifetime. If successful, this advance will lead to a paradigm shift in use of fiber reinforced polymer composites through the integration of damage detection sensors into the materials such that they simultaneously enhance mechanical strength. Broader impacts of this project extend from advances in nondestructive evaluation and structural health monitoring, to smart materials. The proposed education and outreach program is also comprehensive.This effort focuses on the development of true multifunctional fiber reinforced composites that can use functional materials to both enhance strength and provide embedded damage sensing. The main objective of this research is to advance the current state of art in the fabrication of the next generation of structural composites and structural health monitoring methods. The research will perform a fundamental investigation into the development of embedded and distributed SHM sensors in fiber reinforced composites based on a piezoelectric whiskerization technique recently developed by the PI. The approach will seek to utilize the piezoelectric interphase as a pseudo acoustic emission system where rather than tracking the released of elastic energy as an acoustic wave, the composite will produce a voltage output. Our research will seek to elucidate the behavior of these unique interfaces in the presence of damage and to develop experimental methodologies to probe the mechanical integrity of the material. The development of the proposed damage detection schemes for composite materials would provide a critical tool to advance safety in this growing class of materials. Furthermore, these processes can reduce maintenance costs by forgoing schedule based maintenance for data based repairs. Beyond the economic impacts of this work, interfaces are ubiquitous and the tools developed will provide a modern materials research approach for electronics, catalysis and other applications where bonding between dissimilar materials is relevant.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.