TY  - JOUR
A1  - Laflamme, S.
A1  - Kollosche, Matthias
A1  - Connor, Jerome J.
A1  - Kofod, Guggi
T1  - Soft capacitive sensor for structural health monitoring of large-scale systems
JF  - Structural control & health monitorin
N2  - Structural integrity of infrastructures can be preserved if damage is diagnosed, localized, and repaired in time. During the past decade, there has been a considerable effort to automate the process of structural health monitoring, which is complicated by the inherent large size of civil structures. Hence, a need has arisen to develop new approaches that enable more effective health monitoring.
 In this paper, a new sensing technique for damage localization on large civil structures is proposed. Specifically, changes in strain are detected using a capacitance sensor built with a soft, stretchable dielectric polymer with attached stretchable metal film electrodes. A change in strain causes a measurable change in the capacitance of the sensor, which can be directly monitored when the sensor is fixed to a structure.
 The proposed method is shown here to permit an accurate detection of cracks. The proposed system deploys a layer of dielectric polymer on the surface of a structural element, and regularly monitors any change in capacitance, giving in turn information about the structural state. The smart material is composed of inexpensive silicone elastomers, which make the monitoring system a promising application for large surfaces. Results from tests conducted on small- scale specimens showed that the technology is capable of detecting cracks, and tests conducted on large- size specimens demonstrated that several sensor patches organized on a sensor sheet are capable of localizing a crack. The sensor strain also exhibits a high correlation with the loss of stiffness.
KW  - large-scale system
KW  - structural health monitoring
KW  - strain monitoring
KW  - capacitive sensor
KW  - dielectric polymer
KW  - stretchable sensor
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/stc.426
SN  - 1545-2263
VL  - 19
IS  - 1
SP  - 70
EP  - 81
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Saleem, H.
A1  - Thunga, M.
A1  - Kollosche, Matthias
A1  - Kessler, M. R.
A1  - Laflamme, S.
T1  - Interfacial treatment effects on behavior of soft nano-composites for highly stretchable dielectrics
JF  - Polymer : the international journal for the science and technology of polymers
N2  - We investigate the influence of interfacial treatment on the matrix filler interaction using a melt mixing process to fabricate robust and highly stretchable dielectrics. Silicone oil and silane coupling agent are studied as possible solutions to enhance the compatibility between the inorganic fillers and polymer matrix. Morphology, thermomechanical and dielectric behavior of the prepared specimens are studied. Results show that specimens filled with silicone oil coated particles have promising dielectric and thermal properties. The mechanical properties reveal a stiffness enhancement by 67% with a high strain at break of 900%. The relative permittivity of the specimens prepared with silicone oil increased by 45% as observed from the dielectric analysis. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KW  - Dielectric materials
KW  - Permittivity
KW  - Surface treatment
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2014.06.054
SN  - 0032-3861
SN  - 1873-2291
VL  - 55
IS  - 17
SP  - 4531
EP  - 4537
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  -