Development of smart piezoceramic transducers for detection of solidification in composite materials

An engineering solution for development of smart composite materials is proposed. It is based on the implanting of piezoelectric sensors into the composite material during its manufacturing. Sweeping of sensor's input alternating voltage frequency enables tracking of sensors resonance. The resonance spectrum changes due to the changes of sensor's boundary conditions during cure of the composite material. Those changes are related to the degree of composite cure. Moreover, such design of composite constructions with implanted sensors enables monitoring of structural defects during explotation of those constructions. Numerical as well as experimental investigations validated the applicability of the described solidification monitoring methodology.