Enhancing the Strain Sensitivity of Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Thin Films For Damage Detection and Structural Monitoring

Description

Today the rapid growth of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) application in the automotive and aerospace industry has motivated many researches to perform life-cycle analyses of FRP structures. While its strength-to-weight ratio outperforms conventional metal materials, FRP possesses heterogeneous constitution that entails complex failure modes, bringing challenges to structural analysis and structural design. Assessing structural conditions such as employing structural health monitoring (SHM) sensors to observe the in-situ behavior of a structure may help prevent large scale structural failure. Among many SHM techniques, the carbon nanotube (CNT)-embedded polymer thin film can be rapidly applied to any FRP surface for spatial impact damage detection while coupled with electrical impedance tomography (EIT). In this study the strain sensitivity of the CNT-embedded polymeric thin film is improved nearly 3 times, preparing itself for performing 2-D spatial strain measurement. Furthermore, the geometrical influence of a thin film on its electrical response is investigated. Both results provide preparatory knowledge of conducting sensor validation tests using CNT-embedded thin films upon FRP structures, whose spatial strain under various loading situations can thus be learned.

Period	01 Aug 2015
Event title	11th International Workshop on Advanced Smart Materials and Smart Structures Technology
Event type	Conference
Location	United StatesShow on map