Monitoring composite materials during their manufacturing process is very important to achieve a good quality. At the same time, a monitoring system, able to continuously identify the stress state and the possible incoming of micro-cracks during the component operative life, may increase the safety levels.
Fibre optics, instrumented with FBG (Fibre Bragg Gratings) and embedded in composite materials can be a key sensor system for structural health monitoring, minimally intrusive.
In this work, the calibration of a FBG-based sensorial system has been carried out with static and dynamic strain tests and compared with measurements, made with traditional strain gage and piezoelectric sensors.
Tests demonstrate that these devices, embedded in a composite laminate, can monitor static and dynamic strains with the same accuracy level of traditional ones.
Fiber optic may be also used as refractometer to monitor the advancement of the resin front and the curing reaction during an RTM manufacturing process. In a near future these two fibre optics-based sensor systems could be both applied in operative structures so to increase their reliability level.
In the last decade, in light of their superior mechanical properties advanced polymer matrix composites have been indicated as the most suitable candidates as Smart Materials and Structures. However, their final properties are strongly dependent on the processing stage and key points to improve the quality and the reliability of these materials that have been identified in the cure monitoring and the optimization of the manufacturing process. Based on this line of argument, an integrated fiber optic sensing system for simultaneous refractive index and temperature measurements has been designed and developed in order to monitor the curing process of thermoset based composites. A fiber optic refractometer has been designed by using the free end of the sensing optical fiber. A theoretical model has been developed for converting refractive index changes in detailed information on the extent of the curing. Its validation has been proved by comparison with calorimetric characterization. In addition, integrated fiber Bragg gratings has been used for local temperature measurements. The interrogation of the sensing Bragg grating has been implemented by using a different fiber Bragg grating able to convert the resonance wavelength shift in intensity changes. Preliminary results are presented.
The spectral response changing of a Fiber Bragg grating due to the interactions with an ultrasound wave have been numerically analyzed by a transfer matrix approach has been used, taking into account the geometrical and elasto-optic effects. Numerical analysis show that it's possible to characterize the ultrasound wave, only if the ratio between the ultrasonic wavelength and the length of the used grating exceeds an established value, which depends on both the characteristics of the Bragg grating and the ultrasound amplitude itself.
Real-time, in situ monitoring for quality control of the polymer cure process is of high interest, since thermoset polymer-matrix composite are widely used in large industrial areas: aeronautical, aerospace, automotive and civil due to their low cost/low weight features. However, their final properties are strongly dependence on the processing parameters, such as temperature and pressure sequence. The key-point for advanced composite materials is the possibility to have distributed and simultaneous monitoring of chemoreological and physical properties during the cure process. To this aim, we have developed and tested an optoelectronic fiber optic sensor based on the Fresnel principle able to monitor the variations of the refractive index due to the cure process of an epoxy based resin. Experimental results have been obtained on sensor capability to monitor the cure kinetics by assuming the refractive index as reaction co-ordinate. The integration with in-fiber Bragg grating in order to measure the local temperature has been discussed and tested.
Giovanni Breglio, Andrea Cusano, Antonello Cutolo, Antonio Calabro, Stefania Cantoni, Gandolfo Di Vita, Vincenzo Buonocore, Michele Giordano, Luigi Nicolais
In this work, a fiber optic sensor based on Fresnel principle is presented. It is used to monitor the variations of the refractive index due to the cure process of an epoxy based resin. These materials are widely used in polymer- matrix composites. The process of thermoset matrix based composite involves mass and heat transfer coupled with irreversible chemical reactions inducing physical changes: the transformation of a fluid resin into a rubber and then into a solid glass. To improve the quality and the reliability of these materials key points are the cure monitoring and the optimization of the manufacturing process. To this aim, the fiber optic embedded sensor has been designed, developed and tested. Preliminary results on sensor capability to monitor the cure kinetics are shown. Correlation between the sensor output and conversion advancement has been proposed following the Lorentz-Lorenz law. Isothermal data form the sensor have been compared with calorimetric analysis of an epoxy based resin.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.