Feasibility Study: Magnetic microwire as an alternative to optical fibres for self-monitoring composites
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Aerospace Engineering
Abstract
The field of fibre reinforced polymer composites has grown rapidly such that over 20 million tons are now produced every year for a variety of aerospace and other applications. In aircraft and motor sport, fibre composites are being used extensively to reduce weight, improve fuel economy and performance. However, in-service damage to such composites can be difficult to detect and the need for regular inspection is both time consuming and expensive. As a result future composite structures will have integrated sensor arrays to provide intelligence of potential damage to the structure. The majority of work to date has been focused on embedding optical fibres within a material or structure for this purpose owing to their relatively small dimensions and uniform cross-section. In recent years, this technology has sufficiently matured to find true commercial application such as component testing, design validation and structural health monitoring. The new markets opening for this technology are ranging from military jets and space vehicles to bridges and tunnels.However, there exists a diameter mismatch between the reinforcing fibres and the optical fibres and this could significantly reduce the properties of the composite (e.g. the strength of the material) as well as the accuracy of detecting systems. A typical example of this is the influence of the embedded sensor system on the long-term integrity of a composite structure, where a detrimental effect has been found for the case when a compressive element is introduced into the load spectrum. In addition, the determination for the data receiving from such sensors may not be straightforward because the output can be considerably influenced by a multitude of parameters such as axial, radial and lateral strains, temperature, thermal expansion of the structure, humidity, contamination of the sensing surfaces, etc. These emerging issues must be addressed and further research is needed. In this context, it is of particular interest to develop new techniques that can offer alternatives to optical fibres, we are convinced that the recently developed magnetic microwires hold great promises.The proposed study aims to integrate the recently developed metallic magnetic microwires with giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) and giant stress-impedance (GSI) effects into fibre reinforced polymer composite as means of sensing stress and magnetic field through changes in impedance. This potentially offers an alternative to optical fibres for self-monitoring composites. Apart from the sensing characteristics, the relatively high strength of metallic microwires and the little diameter mismatch are expected to contribute to the structural integrity of the composites. Therefore this research will open up new opportunities to develop smart structural composites with self-monitoring properties for a wide range of engineering and industrial applications.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Hua-Xin Peng (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bingham N
(2012)
Excellent magnetocaloric properties of melt-extracted Gd-based amorphous microwires
in Applied Physics Letters
Peng H
(2009)
Co-based magnetic microwire and field-tunable multifunctional macro-composites
in Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids
Qin F
(2011)
Smart Composites With Short Ferromagnetic Microwires for Microwave Applications
in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics
Qin F
(2013)
Ferromagnetic microwires enabled multifunctional composite materials
in Progress in Materials Science
Qin F
(2013)
Two-peak feature of the permittivity spectra of ferromagnetic microwire/rubber composites
in Applied Physics Letters
Qin F
(2010)
Mechanical-electromagnetic coupling of microwire polymer composites at microwave frequencies
in Applied Physics Letters
Qin F
(2011)
Stress tunable properties of ferromagnetic microwires and their multifunctional composites
in Journal of Applied Physics
Qin F
(2010)
Novel magnetic microwires-embedded composites for structural health monitoring applications
in Journal of Applied Physics
Qin F
(2010)
Exceptional electromagnetic interference shielding properties of ferromagnetic microwires enabled polymer composites
in Journal of Applied Physics
Qin F
(2010)
Influence of varying metal-to-glass ratio on GMI effect in amorphous glass-coated microwires
in Solid State Communications