Distributed temperature and strain sensing within metallic ALM structures

To investigate novel strategies and approaches that enable the integration of optical fibre based sensors with metal additive layer manufactured (ALM) components. The goal of the project should be to develop and demonstrate the ability to produce arrays of metal embedded sensors to enable distributed temperature and strain sensing.

i) Increase understanding of fibre-metal interfaces, develop techniques to improve fibre hermaticity within ALM systems and explore options for producing various metal substrates.
ii) Improve manufacturing techniques for embedding fibres within coupons, increase coupon size, design attachable coupon and automation of coupon production.
iii) Development of techniques for producing multi-grating planar 'strips.' A number of these strips could them be connected in series enabling array construction for testing and incorporation into demonstrator.

The primary goal of the project should be to produce an embedded array of temperature sensors however if time/constraints permit, collocated strain measurements would also be desirable.

The coupons/strips must be designed with features that enable robust mechanical fixing to underlying components (i.e. the component that is being measured), and there must be an appreciation how measurements in the array compare to those of the surface.