I-Corps: Exploring Commercialization of Nanostructured Composite Sensors

I-Corps：探索纳米结构复合传感器的商业化

• 批准号: 1660189
• 负责人: Erik Thostenson
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-11-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1660189&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Exploring; Commercialization; Nanostructured; Composite

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is in the technology transfer of novel manufacturing approaches and new nanostructured composite sensors to commercial applications. The manufacturing and sensing approach is scalable for real-world applications and offers potential reliability, flexibility, and cost viability. The industrial scalability of the manufacturing process to produce a wide range of geometries, ranging from complex structural components to miniaturized sensors, may lead to a broad range of potential commercial applications. Nanostructured composite sensors enable distributed sensing with high sensor sensitivity. For possible applications in structural health monitoring the sensors have the potential to dramatically improve the safety and reliability of civil infrastructure or vehicles, resulting in protection against failure and reduced maintenance costs.This I-Corps project builds upon prior research in both scalable processing of carbon nanotube-based composites and the development of novel sensing methodologies for the detection of deformation and damage in structural materials. The nanotubes are integrated into fiber reinforced composites to create nerve-like electrically conductive networks thereby enabling distributed sensing capabilities arising from resistivity and impedance changes of the network. Through coating carbon nanotubes onto fibers the nanotubes form an electrically conductive sensor network that is sensitive to deformation and damage in structural materials. The techniques offer spatial coverage, distributed sensing capability and manufacturing customizability, and are scalable for field applications with a high degree of flexibility. Complementary analysis techniques are developed to interpret the data collected from the sensors to reconstruct and report the location, extent, and growth of structural damage. Better understanding the critical needs of manufacturers and end-users will enable the team to identify potential future research and commercial applications of these sensors in specific application areas.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于将新颖的制造方法和新型纳米结构复合传感器技术转移到商业应用。制造和传感方法可针对实际应用进行扩展，并提供潜在的可靠性、灵活性和成本可行性。制造过程的工业可扩展性可生产各种几何形状，从复杂的结构部件到微型传感器，可能会带来广泛的潜在商业应用。纳米结构复合传感器可实现具有高传感器灵敏度的分布式传感。对于结构健康监测中的可能应用，传感器有可能显着提高民用基础设施或车辆的安全性和可靠性，从而防止故障并降低维护成本。该 I-Corps 项目建立在碳可扩展处理方面的先前研究的基础上基于纳米管的复合材料以及用于检测结构材料变形和损坏的新型传感方法的开发。纳米管被集成到纤维增强复合材料中，以创建类似神经的导电网络，从而实现由网络的电阻率和阻抗变化产生的分布式传感能力。通过将碳纳米管涂覆到纤维上，纳米管形成了对结构材料的变形和损坏敏感的导电传感器网络。这些技术提供空间覆盖、分布式传感能力和制造可定制性，并且可针对现场应用进行扩展，具有高度的灵活性。开发了补充分析技术来解释从传感器收集的数据，以重建和报告结构损坏的位置、范围和增长。更好地了解制造商和最终用户的关键需求将使团队能够确定这些传感器在特定应用领域的潜在未来研究和商业应用。