Shape memory alloy coating on an optical fiber plays an important role in developing novel active thermal sensors in the field of microelectromechanical systems. In this article, a detailed analysis of NiTi alloy deposited over plastic optical fiber was discussed. A detailed investigation of the morphological, structural, and thermal properties of the NiTi-coated optic fiber was conducted. The uniformity, crystallinity, transformation temperatures, and thermal stability of the coatings were measured using differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. Also, an electrical actuation setup thermo-mechanical test was conducted through Joule heating in which different voltages at varying loads have been used. The sensor characteristic–based parameters (time response and sensitivity) were also calculated. The article presents a complete analysis of experimental results showing the properties and performances of the plastic optical fiber after coating with shape memory alloy.

Online fault detection, isolation and recovery using smart sensors play an important role in intelligent manufacturing system. Fibre optic sensors are very interesting for condition monitoring applications due to the advantage of this technology. Here, the experimental demonstration of Cu-based shape memory alloy (SMA) coated optical fibre for temperature-based sensing applications is reported. The benefit of Cu-based SMA coated optical fibre over conventional metallic coating has been evaluated in the study. For consistent coating, an in situ fixture with a rotary drive setup has been designed and developed. Thermo optic test bench has been developed to study the actuation characteristics of the SMA coated optical fibre for varying current and voltage. Experiments were performed to investigate the light intensity in the SMA coated optical fibre at different actuation conditions. The displacement that takes place in the optical fibre due to the external temperature stimuli will create proportional intensity and wavelength shifts. The maximum average displacement of 4.9 mm has been achieved for Cu-Al-Mn-Ni coated optical fibre. Results show variation in the optical fibre signal due to heating and cooling of the fibre from the applied electrical stimulus on Cu-based SMA coating in the form of austenite to martensite transformation.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.