1 of 2
Self-sensing bridge model.
2 of 2
Self-sensing bending beam.
Dutch research organisation Brightlands Materials Center has developed self-sensing composite parts with Anisoprint’s additive manufacturing technology.
Brightlands has carried out a proof of concept and believes the self-sensing composite components would be of value to the aerospace, construction and healthcare industries.
Using polymer-matrix composites containing continuous carbon fibre, Brightlands has tested the measurable changes in electrical resistance of the continuous fibres, with resistance increasing as applied force does. The research centre used a scale model of a pedestrian composite bridge and a bending beam and monitored the deformation of the structure as a function of the applied load.
Anisoprint Brightlands
Both components were printed with Anisoprint’s Composer A4 platform which ‘supports any thermoplastic polymer as a matrix and, most importantly, full freedom of the carbon fibre layout.’ With this freedom, Brightlands was able to ensure carbon fibre stuck out of the exterior surface of the part in order to make connections with the monitoring electronic hardware. Typically, self-sensing parts are manufactured with traditional composite techniques, but Brightlands believed additive manufacturing to be a more effective method with fewer stages to a complex process.
The importance of being able to manufacture parts like this, Brightlands and Anisoprint say, is to allow structural health monitoring in planes and critical construction parts. Self-sensing composites can help to gather information about real-use circumstances to inform future iterations of products and ensure replacement parts are up to the same standard. 3D printed and self-sensing orthoses and prostheses are also highlighted as potential applications with the self-sensing capability helping to provide information relating to stress distribution and movement patterns to doctors.
"You could never guess every application your technology could be useful for. Thanks to our partners, such as Brightlands Materials Center, we are able to discover new use cases and opportunities for the future," Anisoprint CEO Fedor Antonov told TCT. "The Composer’s open system gives our customers in R&D centres and institutes freedom to experiment and to investigate such opportunities."
