Nanomaterial based fatigue crack sensing

在飞机、钢桥、煤气罐等机械结构中，疲劳是一个普遍而严重的问题。在役构件疲劳裂纹的萌生和扩展是一个严重影响人体安全的问题。在加拿大，由于机械载荷、较大的温度波动和化学腐蚀的协同作用，疲劳问题可能更加突出和加剧。使用无损检测(NDT)技术的现场检查涉及广泛的人工参与，并且缺乏对结构健康的持续监测。除了间歇性的无损检测部署外，开发一种敏感的疲劳裂纹传感器将是非常有益的，它可以在疲劳裂纹的早期阶段同时对多个位置进行连续检测。该项目将专注于开发基于纳米材料的疲劳传感器，使其能够早期检测和长期监测疲劳裂纹。将探索多种低维纳米材料及其包合方法。纳米填料-基材界面的作用将被破译。通过这些研究形成的理解将应用于该项目，以设计具有高灵敏度和可靠性的疲劳传感器。该项目的成功完成将使我们的行业合作伙伴实验室d‘essai Mequaltech Inc.能够将研究项目中创造的发现和设计转化为完全可操作的纳米材料疲劳传感器，具有高灵敏度和可靠性。这将使实验室德赛Mequaltech公司在结构健康监测的国际市场上取得更大的成功。其他好处包括对工程学学生进行使用技术疲劳设备和软件包的培训。

Fatigue is a ubiquitous and serious concern in mechanical structures, such as aircrafts, steel bridges, and gas tanks. The initiation and growth of fatigue cracks of components in service pose a great issue on human safety. In Canada, the fatigue issues can be more prominent and exacerbated due to the synergistic effect of mechanical loading, large temperature fluctuation, and chemical corrosion. On-site inspection using non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques involves extensive human involvement and lacks continuous monitoring of the structural health. In addition to the intermittent NDT deployment, it will be of great benefit to develop a sensitive fatigue crack sensor that allows continuous detection of fatigue cracks at its early stage for multiple sites simultaneously.The project will focus on the development of nanomaterial-based fatigue sensors that allow early detection and long-term monitoring of fatigue cracks. Multiple low-dimensional nanomaterials and their inclusion methods will be explored. The role of the nanofiller-base material interfaces will be deciphered. The understanding developed through these studies will be applied within the project to design fatigue sensors with high sensitivity and reliability. A successful conclusion to this project will enable our industry partner Laboratoire d'essai Mequaltech Inc. to translate the findings and designs created within the research project into fully operational nanomaterial-based fatigue sensors with high sensitivity and reliability. This will allow Laboratoire d'essai Mequaltech Inc. to compete more successfully in the international market for structural health monitoring. Additional benefits include the training of engineering students on the use of technical fatigue equipment and software packages.