Reliability Evaluation of Structural Composite Materials.

Self-healing structural composite materials

A self-healing fiber-reinforced structural polymer matrix composite material is demonstrated. In the composite, a microencapsulated healing agent and a solid chemical catalyst are dispersed within the polymer matrix phase. Healing is triggered by crack propagation through the microcapsules, which then release the healing agent into the crack plane. Subsequent exposure of the healing agent to th...

Structural Health Monitoring for Composite Materials

A composite material can be defined as a combination of two or more distinct materials at a macroscopic level to attain new properties that can’t be achieved by those of individual components acting alone. Different from metallic alloys, each material keeps its own chemical, physical and mechanical properties [1]. Composite materials have reinforcing and matrix phases. The reinforcing phase wit...

Thermographic Evaluation of Aircraft Composite Materials

Lockin thermography is used by RSAF and other aircraft companies. It involves actively applying sinusoidal thermographic waves to the specimen and observing phase and amplitude changes at the specimen surface in order to evaluate structural information below the surface. Experiments were performed to evaluate defect characteristics such as depth, size and shape. The specimen contained very wide...

Multiscale modelling of the structural integrity of composite materials.

Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Materials Using Piezoelectric Sensors

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) denotes a system with the ability to detect and interpret adverse " changes " in a structure in order to improve reliability and reduce life-cycle costs. The greatest challenge in designing a SHM system is knowing what " changes " to look for and how to identify them. This paper focuses on the relationship between sensing systems and their ability to detect ch...