Abstract

Carbon ber composites have become popular in aerospace structures and applications due to their light weight, high strength, and high performance. Recently, scientists have begun investigating hybrid composites that include fibers and particulate fillers, since they allow for advanced tailoring of mechanical properties, such as improved fatigue life. This project investigated a hybrid carbon ber reinforced polymer (HCFRP) that includes carbon fiber and additional alumina nanoparticle fillers, which act as embedded nano stress-sensors. Utilizing the piezospectroscopic e ect, the photo-luminescent spectral signal of the embedded nanoparticles has been monitored as it changes with stress, enabling non-contact stress detection of the material. The HCRFPs stress-sensitive properties have been investigated in-situ using a laser source and a tensile mechanical testing system. Hybrid composites with varying mass contents of alumina nanoparticles have been studied in order to determine the e ect of particle content on the overall stress sensing properties of the material. Additionally, high resolution photo-luminescent maps were conducted of the surfaces of each sample in order to determine the particulate dispersion of samples with varying alumina content. The dispersion maps also served as a method of quantifying particulate sedimentation, and can aid in the improvement of the manufacturing process. The results showed that the emitted photo-luminescent spectrum can indeed be captured from the embedded alumina nanoparticles, and exhibits a systematic trend in photo-luminescent peak shift with respect to stress. The stress maps showed a linear increase in peak shift up to a certain critical stress, and matched closely with the DIC strain results. Therefore, the non-contact stress sensing results shown in this work have strong implications for the future of structural health monitoring and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of aerospace structures.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2015

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Raghavan, Seetha

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Degree Program

Mechanical Engineering

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Engineering and Computer Science; Engineering and Computer Science -- Dissertations, Academic

Format

PDF

Identifier

CFH0004750

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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