Methods for detecting damage to aircraft materials and structures have historically relied on pre-flight or post-flight operations. In this work, an innovative capability to monitor the damage state in additively manufactured structural components for attritable unmanned aircraft will be explored. Electrical impedance tomography is a conductivity based health monitoring technique that relies on the changes in conductivity within a structure to produce damage maps and inform estimates of structural health. In conductivity-based health monitoring of polymer nanocomposites, specifically, current techniques are limited to the application of surface electrodes to characterize and measure the resistivity within the composite. Fully integrated electrodes are needed for conductivity-based self-sensing to be effective in practice. Here, we explore a multi-material electrode design composed of 3 distinct (highly conductive, mildly conductive, and nonconductive) thermoset nanocomposites. A study focused on interlayer bonding and curing between the distinct thermoset composites, and thus changes in mechanical properties are of interest. The results from this study serve as building blocks for designing 3D embedded electrodes for monitoring damage within additively manufactured structural components.

Processing and performance of a multi-material, self-sensing polymer composite

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ACS Spring 2023

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