Dec 24 2010
Plastic components usually endure heavy loads. Till recently sensors were used to calculate the overload in which the sensors are adhesively bonded to the surface of the component or are integrated directly into the component, with great complexity.
But these sensing devices could register only the compressive or tensile loads within a very short range. In order to avoid all these issues, researchers at the Bremen-based Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) have been developing a novel complex material having the features of sensors that can be added or embedded into the components surface.
This innovative substance is made blending both plastic and metal. The component’s matrix is laid with PP or PA, and other plastics. This material can be processed using traditional extruders or injection molding devices. The material can even be coated on surfaces of large substances. The scientists will be coating the conductive plastics to geometrically complicated surfaces using nozzles in the form of a viscous liquid.
The sensing capacity of the polymer-metal composite accounts for high metal concentration of about 90 % by weight and features a particular mixing process. When exposing the component to a load, the electrical resistance of the composite varies. This deviation in the resistance produces a signal that can further be transformed from the component to a calibrating device. The actual performance of this process has been proved by the scientists employing different prototypes. They are exploring the significant industrial applications of these devices recently.
Source: http://www.ifam.fraunhofer.de