I-Corps: Exploring Commercialization of Nanostructured Composite Sensors

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于将新的制造方法和新的纳米结构复合传感器技术转移到商业应用中。制造和传感方法可扩展到实际应用，并提供潜在的可靠性，灵活性和成本可行性。从复杂的结构部件到微型传感器，制造过程的工业可扩展性可以产生广泛的几何形状，这可能会导致广泛的潜在商业应用。纳米结构复合传感器能够实现具有高传感器灵敏度的分布式传感。对于可能的应用在结构健康监测的传感器有可能显着提高民用基础设施或车辆的安全性和可靠性，从而防止故障和降低维护成本。这个I-Corps项目建立在两个可扩展的碳纳米管基复合材料的加工和发展的新的传感方法检测结构材料的变形和损伤的研究。纳米管被集成到纤维增强复合材料中，以创建神经样的导电网络，从而实现由网络的电阻率和阻抗变化引起的分布式传感能力。通过将碳纳米管涂覆到纤维上，碳纳米管形成导电传感器网络，该网络对结构材料中的变形和损伤敏感。该技术提供了空间覆盖，分布式传感能力和制造可定制性，并具有高度的灵活性，可扩展的现场应用。互补的分析技术被开发来解释从传感器收集的数据，以重建和报告结构损伤的位置、程度和增长。更好地了解制造商和最终用户的关键需求将使团队能够确定这些传感器在特定应用领域的潜在未来研究和商业应用。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is in the technology transfer of novel manufacturing approaches and new nanostructured composite sensors to commercial applications. The manufacturing and sensing approach is scalable for real-world applications and offers potential reliability, flexibility, and cost viability. The industrial scalability of the manufacturing process to produce a wide range of geometries, ranging from complex structural components to miniaturized sensors, may lead to a broad range of potential commercial applications. Nanostructured composite sensors enable distributed sensing with high sensor sensitivity. For possible applications in structural health monitoring the sensors have the potential to dramatically improve the safety and reliability of civil infrastructure or vehicles, resulting in protection against failure and reduced maintenance costs.This I-Corps project builds upon prior research in both scalable processing of carbon nanotube-based composites and the development of novel sensing methodologies for the detection of deformation and damage in structural materials. The nanotubes are integrated into fiber reinforced composites to create nerve-like electrically conductive networks thereby enabling distributed sensing capabilities arising from resistivity and impedance changes of the network. Through coating carbon nanotubes onto fibers the nanotubes form an electrically conductive sensor network that is sensitive to deformation and damage in structural materials. The techniques offer spatial coverage, distributed sensing capability and manufacturing customizability, and are scalable for field applications with a high degree of flexibility. Complementary analysis techniques are developed to interpret the data collected from the sensors to reconstruct and report the location, extent, and growth of structural damage. Better understanding the critical needs of manufacturers and end-users will enable the team to identify potential future research and commercial applications of these sensors in specific application areas.