The self-monitoring aspect of this story is what fascinates me the most. I'd like to read more about this topic, especially what other areas something like this is being used in. Ann, do you happen to know?
Thanks, Rob. Yes, the hope here seems to be that since the use of adhesives is increasing massively along with the use of composites, adhesives can help provide an early-warning system for detecting structural problems in aircraft. Reading about nanotechnology and its possible applications is like reading about science fiction, far more so than most other leading-edge technologies. I covered early carbon tube and carbon wire R&D efforts several years ago, so it was heartening to see that it's advanced to the level of possible real-world applications. Although this, of course, is still in R&D.
It would be great if adhesives could help provide a warning for structural problems in an aircraft. I look forward to see the progress of this through research and development.
The idea that some sort of nanotechnology adhesive can help predict a structural failure in a composite airplane wing is definitely science fiction-like. How far away is this technology from being commercialized given that composites are increasingly being deployed in planes?
This should contribute greatly to our understanding of failure mechanisms of composites in real-world applications. After all, failure mechanisms of steels is well understood, but composites are in still comparatively new in many of these applications. This is an important story.
@Ann: Can you walk me through how a sensor like this would work? I understand that Professor Meguid's group is studying how alignment of the nanotubes or nanowires affects the electrical conductivity of the adhesive. Is the idea that the presence of a crack would alter the alignment of the nanotubes or nanowires, and that this could be measured as a change in conductivity?
The use of the term "percolation threshold" seems to indicate that they are using graph theory, which is a good example of how seemingly abstract branches of mathematics can sometimes have extremely practical uses.
I can see how this could indeed work to indicate the start of failure. That part does make sense. But the question comes as to how to reset the detection scheme after the repairs are done. In the same way that embedded fiber optics do detect failures, the change is permanent and nonreverseable. Broken fibers and gaps between the microfibers just do not repair. The fix is a replacement. So while the detection system could work, the repairs would equate to replacements.
'percolation' is a physical phenomenon, referring to topological arrangements within a multi-component solid. Imagine for instance a matrix of substance A with embedded uniform spheres of conductive substance B. As you increase the concentration of B, at some point they will start touching each other on a macroscopic scale, so that the material would become conductive---that would be an example of percolation.
The concept is used in many contexts, for instance to describe flow of oil through pores in a rock matrix.
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