This paper provides an overview of the different types of fiber optic sensors (FOS) that can be used with composite materials and also their compatibility with and suitability for embedding inside a composite material. An overview of the different types of FOS used for strain/temperature sensing in composite materials is presented. Recent trends, and future challenges for FOS technology for condition monitoring in smart composite materials are also discussed. This comprehensive review provides essential information for the smart materials industry in selecting of appropriate types of FOS in accordance with end-user requirements.

/pdf/overview-of-fiber-optic-sensor-technologies-for-strain-4gcv7kkbp2.pdf

Overview of Fiber Optic Sensor Technologies for Strain/Temperature Sensing Applications in Composite Materials

The skin is the largest organ of the body, having a complex multi-layered structure and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments, and internal organs. It serves as the first line of defence to any external stimuli, hence it is the most vulnerable to injury and warrants the need for rapid and reliable regeneration methods. Tissue engineered skin substitutes help overcome the limitations of traditional skin treatment methods, in terms of technology, time, and cost. While there is commendable progress in the treating of superficial wounds and injuries with skin substitutes, treatment of full-thickness injuries, especially with third or fourth degree burns, still looks murkier. Engineering multi-layer skin architecture, conforming to the native skin structure is a tougher goal to achieve with the current tissue engineering methods, if not impossible, restoring all the functions of the native skin. The testing of drugs and cosmetics is another area, where engineered skins are very much needed, with bans being imposed on product testing on animals. Given this greater need, 3D bioprinting is a promising technology that can achieve rapid and reliable production of biomimetic cellular skin substitutes, satisfying both clinical and industrial needs. This paper reviews all aspects related to the 3D bioprinting of skin, right from imaging the injury site, 3D model creation, biomaterials that are used and their suitability, types of cells and their functions, actual bioprinting technologies, along with the challenges and future prospects.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1758-5090/8/3/032001/pdf

3D bioprinting of skin: a state-of-the-art review on modelling, materials, and processes

http://roboticslab.uc3m.es/roboticslab/sites/default/files/montero2015past-preprint.pdf

Past, present and future of robotic tunnel inspection

Composite materials/structures are advancing in product efficiency, cost-effectiveness and the development of superior specific properties. There are increasing demands in their applications to loa...

/pdf/non-destructive-testing-and-evaluation-of-composite-25jy7cttmq.pdf

Non-destructive testing and evaluation of composite materials/structures: A state-of-the-art review

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy resources. It is distinctly important to increase reliability and availability of wind turbines and further to reduce the wind energy cost. Blades are considered to be one of the most critical components in wind turbine system because they convert Kinetic energy of wind into useable power. Blades are fabricated by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) or glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). Flaws and damages are inevitable during either fabrication or lifetime of a composite blade. Thus, non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) for wind turbine blade (WTB) are required to prevent failures and increase reliability in both manufacturing quality control and in-service inspection. In this work, a fully, in-depth and comprehensive review of NDT techniques for WTB inspection was reported based on an orderly and concise literature survey. Firstly, typical flaw and damage occurring in manufacturing progress and in service of WTB were introduced. Next, the developments of visual, sonic and ultrasonic, optical, electromagnetic, thermal and radiographic NDT for composite WTB inspection were reviewed. Thereafter, strengths and limitations of NDT techniques were concluded through comparison studies. In the end, some research trends in WTB NDT have been predicted, for example in combination with SHM. This work will provide a guide for NDT and SHM of WTB, which plays an important role in wind turbine safety control and wind energy cost savings. In addition, this work can benefit the NDT development in the field of renewable energy, such as solar energy, and energy conservation field, such as building diagnosis.

Progress and trends in nondestructive testing and evaluation for wind turbine composite blade

Optical non-destructive testing (NDT) has gained more and more attention in recent years, mainly because of its non-destructive imaging characteristics with high precision and sensitivity. This paper provides a review of the main optical NDT technologies, including fibre optics, electronic speckle, infrared thermography, endoscopic and terahertz technology. Among them, fibre optics features easy integration and embedding, electronic speckle focuses on whole-field high precision detection, infrared thermography has unique advantages for tests of combined materials, endoscopic technology provides images of the internal surface of the object directly, and terahertz technology opens a new direction of internal NDT because of its excellent penetration capability to most of non-metallic materials. Typical engineering applications of these technologies are illustrated, with a brief introduction of the history and discussion of recent progress.

/pdf/a-review-of-optical-ndt-technologies-7szzyoznru.pdf

Hong-Hong Zhang

Papers

A review of optical NDT technologies.