Solutions for Strain and Temperature Testing of Composite Materials

Composite materials, featuring light weight, high strength, and easy formability, have been widely used in fields such as aerospace, automotive, and wind power. Lightweighting is the development trend of the composite material industry, and balancing lighter weight with guaranteed quality and performance has become a new challenge. Whether for good product control during the production of new composite materials or condition monitoring during the use of finished products, optical fiber sensing technology is highly suitable as a non-destructive measurement method. As a new type of sensor, optical fibers offer advantages including small size, flexibility, and anti-electromagnetic interference. Their compact size ensures that embedding them inside materials does not affect strength performance, making them the ideal choice for testing various parameters of composite materials. They are characterized by high accuracy and tracking measurement in material detection. Through failure analysis, potential causes of composite material failure can be identified across design, production, process, and usage stages. Delving into the product failure mechanism provides a theoretical basis for improving product yield and optimizing processes. The high-precision distributed optical fiber sensing system (OSI) delivers unprecedented spatial resolution, enabling blind-zone-free acquisition of test data at various locations and providing reliable and accurate data for strain/temperature fields. The high-speed fiber Bragg grating demodulator (FBGS) can provide sampling speeds at the level of tens of kilohertz, capturing transient change data.

Crack and Hidden Damage Detection

The heterogeneity and anisotropy of composite materials make them prone to defects during the manufacturing process. These defects may not be visible at all from the surface, and obvious damages such as cracks and delamination only appear under the influence of factors like collision, impact, and fatigue accumulation. The high-precision distributed optical fiber sensing system (OSI) can easily monitor cracks and hidden damages generated on composite materials, providing visual data for confirming the location and extent of damages.

Composite Material Damage Detection

Composite Material Molding Monitoring

The internal conditions of composite materials during the molding process are unknown. A tiny bubble can lead to catastrophic consequences, making the detection of internal conditions a key research focus for researchers. Optical fiber sensors, with their light weight, small size, and flexibility, are the ideal choice for monitoring the internal structure of composite materials during molding.

Composite Material Thermoplastic Molding Monitoring

Composite Material Strength Testing

The mechanical properties of composite materials are extremely complex. Their internal structural inhomogeneity usually leads to anisotropy, which stems from multiple factors such as fiber interactions and interlayer bonding. Traditional composite material measurement mostly relies on point-type strain gauges that cannot provide sufficient information. Distributed optical fibers can sense along the shape of complex structures, delivering unprecedentedly detailed results.

Impact of Optical Fiber Embedding on Composite Material Internal StrengthComposite Material Loading Strength Testing with Surface-mounted/Embedded Optical Fiber Sensors