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

该学院早期职业发展(Career)计划拨款用于开发纤维增强复合材料的研究，这种材料很容易使用标准的无损评估技术进行检测。无损评估检测结构中的损伤，就像医生的x光检测骨折一样，这种技术对飞机和管道等各种工业和商业结构的安全至关重要。无损评估在金属结构中是常见的，但在非金属系统中的应用则更具挑战性。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加工，以便在纤维增强聚合物复合材料的磁学和X射线检查过程中更容易发现损伤。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，并将它们应用于先进复合材料。造影剂将被合成并集成到材料中，同时将开发用于这些造影剂的传感系统。如果成功，这项研究将能够使用公认的、容易获得的无损评估技术对复合材料中的损伤进行定量分析。这将提高复合材料的安全性和可靠性。随着工程师在他们创造的结构中改进损伤检测的基础上获得信心，更轻、更高效的结构将成为可能。这项研究的研究生和本科生将成为一个结合固体力学、仪器仪表和材料化学的跨学科项目的一部分，其结果将发表在期刊上，并在国内和国际会议上公布。教育举措包括在工程课程中进行基于同伴的教学和其他自我指导的技术，这些技术将培养创造力并提高STEM学生的留存率。这项研究的各个方面将被纳入本科生和研究生课程，以及为高中生举办的工程学夏令营。这项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.