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Project

New materials for percolation-based sensors applicable and resistant in an industrial environment

To guaranty the integrity of structural components at their designed reliability and safety levels, costly maintenance operations are required. Using a network of sensors permanently monitoring the health of these structures, emerging damage can be detected earlier while increasing safety and saving resources. This project, based on recent successful feasibility studies on water detection in aircraft, chemical installations and constructions made of concrete, focuses on enabling new industrial applications. Indeed, the sensing principle, based on a percolation effect in a polymer matrix made of polyvinyl alcohol, has a limited operational window. To increase the potential market, this project therefore aims at determining new material combinations to increase the applicability regarding higher temperature ranges and complicated implementation conditions. The primary goal is to use advanced blends based on epoxy resins to respond to the required technical boundary conditions.

Date:27 Sep 2021 →  Today
Keywords:sensor, percolation, structural health monitoring, corrosion, composite
Disciplines:Destructive and non-destructive testing of materials, Hybrid composites
Project type:PhD project