Mineral Fibre Smart Composite Structural Health Monitoring
topic
Smart mineral fibre composites integrate optical fibre Bragg grating sensors within glass or carbon fibre composite laminates during manufacture, enabling real-time measurement of strain, temperature, and damage-induced acoustic emission within operating composite structures; carbon fibre self-sensing composites measure electrical resistance changes proportional to fatigue crack growth and impact damage for non-contact damage state monitoring.
Role
Transforms mineral fibre composite structures from passive load-bearing materials into active self-sensing structural health monitoring systems that provide continuous damage state awareness, enabling condition-based maintenance scheduling that replaces time-based inspection intervals with evidence-based intervention triggered by measured structural degradation exceeding defined damage thresholds.