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Nowadays, nonlinear vibration methods are increasingly used for the detection of damage mechanisms in polymer matrix composite (PMC) materials, which are anisotropic and heterogeneous. The originality of this study was the use of two nonlinear vibration methods to detect different types of damage within PMC through an in situ embedded polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric sensor. The two used methods are nonlinear resonance (NLR) and single frequency excitation (SFE). They were first tested on damage introduced during the manufacturing of the smart PMC plates, and second, on the damage that occurred after the manufacturing. The results show that both techniques are interesting, and probably a combination of them will be the best choice for SHM purposes. During the experimentation, an accelerometer was used, in order to validate the effectiveness of the integrated PVDF sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, electrical resistance change method is used for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymers damage monitoring. The electrical resistance variation could be an interesting complementary to existing/classical damage monitoring methods. It is extremely attributed to electrical conductivity of composite material and it appears that enhancing the conductivity of materials, by the use of conductive nanofillers in our case, improves their sensitivity to mechanical loading. Carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymers with different nanofillers types and concentrations were manufactured and tested in tensile loading. Concentration of 0 and 8 wt% of carbon black and 2.5 wt% of carbon nanotubes were used with Polyamide 6 sheets as matrix. Nanofillers weakening effect was discussed according to their concentrations and types. The acoustic emission, digital image correlation and in-situ microscopy were also recorded during testing. A correlation between all these signals and the evolution of the electrical resistance of the composites during the tensile loading was performed. It was found that CB enhances sensitivity of carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymers to damage detection, especially delamination. For the carbon nanotubes, results are less promising. A discussion is held about the nanofillers concentration influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to provide a general overview on what has been achieved recently in the scientific community on the manufacturing, embedding, and wiring techniques of various kinds of piezoelectric devices for manufacturing monitoring and structural health monitoring applications of polymer–matrix composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]