Effect of temperature on the spectrum of fiber Bragg grating sensors embedded in polymer composite

This work presents the experimental results on the effect of temperature on the spectrum of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors embedded in a polymer composite material manufactured by the prepreg method. The tests are carried out for flat bar specimens made of fiberglass with five embedded FBG sensors. For measuring the reflected wave power, the ASTRO X322 Interrogator is used. It is shown that embedding leads to the occurrence of an additional power peak and decreases the reflection spectrum signal by 10–12 dB. This is due to the effect of transverse compression force and the anisotropic character of the thermal expansion coefficient of the material. In heating, the reflected spectrum is close to the initial state of the material, but it has a less power.