Smart structures and materials
Composite materials can be designed and tailored, not just for great specific stiffness and strength, but also for smart behaviour. By including multi-functionality, extra utility can be included into part design. For example, with the help of AI-assisted image recognition, techniques to automatically reveal otherwise invisible impact damage on composite structures have been demonstrated [1,2]. Other work on smart materials includes manufacture of elastomers capable of changing their stiffness on the application of a magnetic field [3,4]. The possibilities to incorporate smart behaviour into composite materials and structures is an active and exciting area of research that we intend to explore further in future work.
[1] Tabatabaeian, A., Mohammadi, R., Harrison, P. and Fotouhi, M. (2024) Characterisation and application of bio-inspired hybrid composite sensors for detecting barely visible damage under out-of-plane loadings. Sensors, 24(16), 5170. (doi: 10.3390/s24165170)
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[2] Tabatabaeian, A., Jerkovic, B., Harrison, P. , Marchiori, E. and Fotouhi, M. (2023) Barely visible impact damage detection in composite structures using deep learning networks with varying complexities. Composites Part B: Engineering, 264, 110907. (doi: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2023.110907)
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[3] Schubert, G. and Harrison, P. (2016) Magnetic induction measurements and identification of the permeability of magneto-rheological elastomers using finite element simulations.Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 404, pp. 205-214. (doi: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2015.12.003)
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[4] Schubert, G. and Harrison, P. (2016) Equi-biaxial tension tests on magneto-rheological elastomers. Smart Materials and Structures, 25(1), 015015. (doi: 10.1088/0964-1726/25/1/015015)
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[5] Guo, Z., Shi, X., Chen, Y., Chen, H., Peng, X. and Harrison, P. (2014) Mechanical modeling of incompressible particle-reinforced neo-Hookean composites based on numerical homogenization. Mechanics of Materials, 70, pp. 1-17. (doi: 10.1016/j.mechmat.2013.11.004)
