Multi-Physics Nano-Engineered Structural Damage Detection and De-Icing

Abstract

Catastrophic structural failures are the cause of many physical and personal losses, at a worldwide cost estimated at billions of dollars per year. Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques have been pursued and employed for damage detection of structures to detect cracks and other damage at pre-critical levels for remediation [1-3]. To address drawbacks with state-of-the-art approaches, a novel multi-physics approach is reported that takes advantage of the effects that damage has on the electrical and thermal transport in a material containing aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to create a new damage detection technique. Another application of the same nano-engineered composites is in thermal applications such as de-icing and anti-icing systems. Icing is a serious problem that has caused several aircraft incidents associated with temperatures ranging between -40 ºC to 0 ºC. Although some technologies have been developed, improved solutions are desirable in order to obtain lighter and more efficient technologies