OPTICAL FIBER COMPATIBILITY WITH ADVANCED ELECTRONIC/STRUCTURAL MATERIALS

OPTICAL FIBERS CAN PROVIDE AN ADVANCED DATA TRANSMISSION, DIAGNOSTIC AND SENSING CAPABILITY FOR FUTURE AIRCRAFT. THERE IS A NEED TO PROVIDE A MONOLITHIC MATERIALS CAPABILITY FOR DISTRIBUTING FIBER OPTIC SIGNALS IN COMPUTER BACKPLANES AS WELL AS IN AIRCRAFT SKINS AND ENGINE/AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES. WHEN OPTICAL FIBERS ARE EMBEDDED INTO A COMPOSITE MATERIAL, THE FIBER MUST SURVIVE THE TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE DURING FABRICATION OF THE STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS. WE ARE PROPOSING TO USE A SINGLE-MODE BEND INSENSITVE FIBER WITH A HIGH TEMPERATURE RESISTANT POLYMERIC COATING FOR WITHSTANDING THE TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE AND FOR TRANSMITTING THE OPTICAL SIGNALS. IN PHASE I, WE WILL EMBED THE ABOVE FIBERS IN A GRAPHITE-EPOXY MATRIX AND WILL DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND STRAIN ON OPTICAL ATTENUATION OF THE STRUCTURE.