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，正在为结构材料的未来带来革命性的变化。然而，这种复合材料容易受到许多失效模式的影响，并且很难使用目前存在的传统无损评估技术来确定失效背后的原因。这项研究试图开发一种新的方法来监测复合材料的完整性，使用压电式传感器可以将材料的变形转换为电信号。通过解读这些信号，有可能确定一种材料的使用寿命。如果成功，这一进展将通过将损伤检测传感器集成到材料中，从而同时提高机械强度，从而导致纤维增强聚合物复合材料使用方式的转变。该项目的影响范围更广，从无损评估和结构健康监测方面的进步，到智能材料。拟议的教育和推广计划也是全面的。这项努力集中于开发真正的多功能纤维增强复合材料，这种复合材料可以使用功能材料来增强强度和提供嵌入的损伤传感。这项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现状。这项研究将对基于PI最近开发的压电晶须技术的纤维增强复合材料中嵌入式和分布式SHM传感器的开发进行基础性的研究。该方法将寻求将压电界面用作伪声发射系统，其中复合材料将产生电压输出，而不是跟踪释放的弹性能量作为声波。我们的研究将寻求阐明这些独特的界面在存在损伤时的行为，并开发实验方法来探索材料的机械完整性。拟议的复合材料损伤检测方案的开发将为提高这一日益增长的材料类别的安全性提供一个关键工具。此外，这些过程可以通过放弃基于数据的维修的基于时间表的维护来降低维护成本。除了这项工作的经济影响之外，界面无处不在，所开发的工具将为电子、催化和其他与不同材料之间的结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，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.