ATTACHMENT TECHNIQUES FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE STRAIN

HITECH PRODUCTS PROPOSES RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND TESTING REQUIRED TO CHARACTERIZE STRAIN GAGE ATTACHEMENT TECHNIQUES ON METALLIC AND COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL MATERIALS IN ELEVATED TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENTS. THIS PROGRAM WILL BUILD ON EXISTING KNOWLEDGE OF ATTACHMENT TECHNIQUES ACQUIRED THROUGH NUMEROUS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS WITH AEROSPACE AND ROCK INDUSTRIES. SPECIFICALLY, WE INTEND TO EVALUATE CERAMIC CEMENT, FLAME SPRAY, SPUTTER COATINGS, WELDING, BRAZING, AND METALLIZING TECHNIQUES FOR ATTACHING RESISTIVE AND CAPACITIVE SENSORS TO MATERIALS INCLUDING TITANIUM ALUMINIDES, NICKEL ALUMINIDES, CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES, AND METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES. SPECIFIC SENSORS SELECTED FOR EVALUATION WILL MINIMALLY INCLUDE SPECIAL ALLOY WIRE GAGES (PD-CR, FE-CR-AL, ETC), BOEING AND GPD CAPACITIVE GAGES, AND OTHER GAGES (I.E. CLIP GAGES) AS APPROPRIATE. EVALUATION OF SPUTTER PRE-COATS AND SIMPLE SPUTTERED GAGES ON ABOVE MATERIAL SYSTEMS WILL ALSO BE CONDUCTED. OUR FINAL OBJECTIVE WILL BE PROTOTYPE INSTALLATIONS DEMONSTRATING FEASIBILITY/COMPATABILITY OF THE ATTACHMENT METHOD WITH VARIOUS TEST MATERIALS.