Multifunctional Composite for Integrated Strain, Damage and Temperature Sensing

TIAX proposes to develop lightweight, smart composite materials capable of sensing their own mechanical and thermal state. These composites will add functionality to structural materials used both in NASA missions and high-performance commercial applications. We will build on literature methods to sense strain, damage initiation and propagation, and temperature in composite materials to prepare, in a manner consistent with production-scale manufacturing and integration into real-world systems, multifunctional composites capable of reporting on their own health. These composites will be tested to ensure that their mechanical properties meet or exceed those of the base composite and to demonstrate that the embedded sensing capability accurately reports on composite health.