Acoustic emission source location of type - II composite pressure vessel with artificial defect

This research seeks to evaluate damage on the fuel tank by an acoustic emission test when executing 20000 cycles fatigue test and thereafter burst test. Used gas cylinders in the experimental are three types as follows; one is sound cylinder, others are cylinders which contain longitudinal and transverse artificial defect. The size of artificial defect is a depth of 3 mm, width of 3 mm and length of 50 mm. In the case of the cylinder which artificial defect, unlike the expectation that it will burst in low pressure, the burst pressure of the cylinder did not differ much according to whether or not there were defects. However, when there was longitudinal defect, the location of burst was near the location of defect. This leads to the effect in which the thickness of the composite material becomes thinner according to the length of the longitudinal defect and this is judged to have an effect on the location of initiation and growth of crack in the liner. Also, for the acoustic emission signal, when there is longitudinal defect, the ratio of an event occurring at defect position among overall hits is more than 50 %, and the source location also accords very precisely with defect position.