Fiber-Embedded Metallic Materials: From Sensing towards Nervous Behavior

Abstract

Embedding of fibers in materials has attracted serious attention from researchers and has become a new research trend. Such material structures are usually termed “smart” or more recently “nervous”. Materials can have the capability of sensing and responding to the surrounding environmental stimulus, in the former, and the capability of feeling multiple structural and external stimuli, while feeding information back to a controller for appropriate real-time action, in the latter. In this paper, embeddable fibers, embedding processes, and behavior of fiber-embedded metallic materials are reviewed. Particular emphasis has been given to embedding fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array sensors and piezo wires, because of their high potential to be used in nervous materials for structural health monitoring. Ultrasonic consolidation and laser-based layered manufacturing processes are discussed in detail because of their high potential to integrate fibers without disruption. In addition, current challenges associated with embedding fibers in metallic materials are highlighted and recommendations for future research work are set.

Piezoelectric Scaffolds as Smart Materials for Neural Tissue Engineering

“…The PNS somatic system transmits sensory and motor information for the CNS, while the autonomic one controls automatic functions (e.g., heart beating, blood pressure) [60][61][62]. The basic functional units in the nervous system having specific electrical properties are neurons and neuroglia (Figure 3), which enable effective transmission of the signals [63,64]. The plasma membrane in a non-excited state is characterized by the resting potential, the value of which is usually around −70 mV [65][66][67].…”

Smart Build-Plate for Metal Additive Manufacturing Processes

“…These sensors are made of glass, small in form factor, immune to electromagnetic radiation, interrogated remotely, and allow continuous monitoring along the fiber length. Fiber optic based strain sensors that were limited to external mounting on metallic structures can now be incorporated into structures with the advent of metal additive manufacturing [9][10][11][12]. UAM, a low-temperature metal additive-manufacturing technology, overcomes formation challenges found in directed energy deposition type processes and has successfully been used to build fiber optic Bragg gratings (FBGs) and HD-FOS into metal components for monitoring purposes [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

Electromechanical Assessment and Induced Temperature Measurement of Carbon Fiber Tows under Tensile Condition

“…It falls within the scope of developing a nervous system in the host material that can detect, diagnose, and quantify damages [ 1 ]. Saheb and Mekid presented an intensive revision of smart fibers and potential embedding processes with focus on optical fibers and metallic host materials [ 32 ]. Extensive numerical and experimental works were carried out to understand the parameters that controlled embedding of fibers using ultrasonic consolidation [ 33 , 34 ].…”

“…Extensive numerical and experimental works were carried out to understand the parameters that controlled embedding of fibers using ultrasonic consolidation [ 33 , 34 ]. While methods like ultrasonic consolidation [ 33 ] and laser-based layer manufacturing are successful in sub-surface embedment, placement of fibers inside materials while ensuring their integrity and functionality remains as challenging task for researchers [ 32 ]. Mekid et al evaluated the performance and integrity of embedded fiber optics under high pressure and temperature conditions [ 35 ].…”