Transcript draft - ECF 21

DRAFT
21st European Conference on Fracture, ECF21, 20-24 June 2016, Catania, Italy
DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION OF GLASS FIBRE
SENSORS FOR MONITORING DIFFUSION OF CHEMICALS IN
POLYMER COMPOSITES IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS
Milena Salvo* Politecnico di Torino Department of Applied Science and Technology. Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy [email protected]
Ben Milsom Queen Mary, University of London. Nanoforce Technology Ltd. Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK - [email protected]
Cristian Marro Bellot Politecnico di Torino. Department of Applied Science and Technology. Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino,
Italy. - [email protected]
Marco Sangermano Politecnico di Torino. Department of Applied Science and Technology. Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy [email protected]
Daniel Milanese Politecnico di Torino. Department of Applied Science and Technology, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy. [email protected]
Massimo Olivero Politecnico di Torino. Department of Electronics and Telecommunications. Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy. [email protected]
Stefanos Giannis Element Materials Technology, Wilbury Wa.y Hitchin, SG4 0TW, United Kingdom - [email protected]
Abstract
The development of innovative and low cost glass fibre based sensors for chemicals and new tests and modelling methods for Glass
Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites in harsh environments is one of the key themes of the CoACH European Training
Network (www.coach-etn.eu).
A combination of Evanescent Wave Optical Sensors (EWOSs) and Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBGs) was embedded in epoxy vinyl ester
based GRP composites to measure fluid ingress that would result in its degradation under hostile conditions. Samples were subjected
to accelerated ageing in the form of single sided exposure to simulated seawater, at 120°C in a pressurised stainless steel vessel. Low
cost EWOSs were prepared from a standard multimode glass optical fibre and compared to commercially available FBGs. Both
sensors were able to detect the early stage of moisture diffusion into the GRP polymer matrix. Preliminary results and further
activities will be discussed.
The extremely low cost associated with the production of the sensors in this work will allow them to be applied to the development
of accelerated ageing tests for the investigation and comparison of composite materials, an area that is being extensively investigated
for the development of new GRPs.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme managed by
REA-Research Executive Agency in a Marie Curie Action (GlaCERCo GA 264526) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 642557 (CoACH, www.coach-etn.eu).