Active sensing and damage detection using piezoelectric zinc oxide-based nanocomposites

Abstract

This study investigated the design and performance of piezoelectric nanocomposite-based interdigitated transducers (IDTs) for active sensing and damage detection. First, thin films that are highly piezoelectric and mechanically flexible were designed by embedding zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles in a poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) piezo-polymer matrix. Second, the suspended nanoparticle solutions were then spin coated onto patterned comb electrodes to fabricate the IDTs. The films were then poled to align their electric domains and to increase their permanent piezoelectricity. Upon IDT fabrication, its sensing and actuation of Lamb waves on an aluminum pipe was validated. These results were also compared to data obtained from commercial Macro Fiber Composite IDT transducers. In the last phase of this work, damage detection was demonstrated by mounting these nanocomposite sensors and actuators (using a pitch-catch setup) onto an aluminum pipe and plate. Damage was simulated by tightening a band clamp around the pipe and by drilling holes in the plate. A damage index calculation was used to compare results corresponding to different levels of damage applied to the plate (i.e., different drilled hole depths), and good correlation was observed. Thus, ZnO/PVDF-TrFE transducers were shown to have the potential for use as piezoelectric transducers for structural health monitoring and damage detection.

Effect of interfacial interactions on the electromechanical response of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene)/BaTiO3 composites and its time dependence after poling

“…The possibility to use poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE))/ZnO 3 transducers for active sensing and damage detection has also been demonstrated [13]. VDF (co)polymers require relatively high electrical fields of more than 500 kV/cm for complete poling.…”

Polymer and ceramic nanocomposites for aerospace applications

“…ZnO enhances the piezoelectricity in piezoelectric polymers (Dodds et al 2011). Realizing this, Meyers et al (Meyers et al 2013) have further demonstrated the use of ZnObased nanocomposites as transducer for Lamb wave-based SHM in pipe structure. Thus, ZnO-based nanocomposites hold promising future in development of cost-effective SHM systems for aircraft structures.…”

“…Nanocomposites also possess structural and electrical properties that can be tailored by controlling its composition to make them suitable for transducer applications. Piezoelectric PMNC consists of piezoelectric nanofillers like PZT, zinc oxide (ZnO) embedded in a polymer matrix (Daben 1990;Jain et al 2014;van den Ende et al 2007;Meyers et al 2013). These nanofillers impart piezoelectricity simultaneously retaining the properties of the polymer.…”

Fabrication of composite PVDF-ZnO nanofiber mats by electrospinning for energy scavenging application with enhanced efficiency

“…Also, randomly oriented electrospun nanofiber mats can be directly used to make a piezoelectric power generator without any extra poling treatment [27]. Nevertheless, fabricated nanofibrous devices still has low output efficiency; many studies to improve the performance of the PVDF nanofibers have been conducted in most of which, the use of nanoparticles such as CNTs, Graghen, BaTiO 3 , and ZnO has led to this improvement [34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. Because of piezoelectric properties, ZnO is one of the viable alternatives to improving performance of nanogenerators [41,42].…”