Roger David. Rasberry

Interrogating adhesion using fiber Bragg grating sensing technology

The assurance of the integrity of adhesive bonding at substrate interfaces is paramount to the longevity and sustainability of encapsulated components. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to non-destructively evaluate these materials to determine the adequacy of bonding after manufacturing and then later in service. A particularly difficult problem in this regard is the reliable detection/monitoring of regions of weak bonding that may result from poor adhesion or poor cohesive strength, or degradation in service. One promising and perhaps less explored avenue we have recently begun to investigate for this purpose centers on the use of (chirped) fiber Bragg grating sensing technology. In this scenario, a grating is patterned into a fiber optic such that a (broadband) spectral reflectance is observed. The sensor is highly sensitive to local and uniform changes across the length of the grating. Initial efforts to evaluate this approach for measuring adhesive bonding defects at substrate interfaces are discussed. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Residual internal stress optimization for EPON 828/DEA thermoset resin using fiber Bragg grating sensors.

Internal residual stresses and overall mechanical properties of thermoset resins are largely dictated by the curing process. It is well understood that fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors can be used to evaluate temperature and cure induced strain while embedded during curing. Herein, is an extension of this work whereby we use FBGs as a probe for minimizing the internal residual stress of an unfilled and filled Epon 828/DEA resin. Variables affecting stress including cure cycle, mold (release), and adhesion promoting additives will be discussed and stress measurements from a strain gauge pop-off test will be used as comparison. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Large motion high cycle high speed optical fibers for space based applications.

Future remote sensing applications will require higher resolution and therefore higher data rates (up to perhaps 100 gigabits per second) while achieving lower mass and cost. A current limitation to the design space is high speed high bandwidth data does not cross movable gimbals because of cabling issues. This requires the detectors to be off gimbal. The ability to get data across the gimbal would open up efficiencies in designs where the detectors and the electronics can be placed anywhere on the system. Fiber optic cables provide light weight high speed high bandwidth connections. Current options are limited to 20,000 cycles as opposed to the 1,000,000 cycles needed for future space based applications. To extend this to the million+ regime, requires a thorough understanding of the failure mechanisms and the materials, proper selection of materials (e.g., glass and jacket material) allowable geometry changes to the cable, radiation hardness, etc.