Dr. Schulzgen is looking for someone to help in undergrad research. See below and contact him at axel@creol.ucf.edu
NSF supported project:
Multi-scale and in-situ
sensing technology for structural integrity
(7/2017-12/2018)
Seetha Raghavan seetha.raghavan@ucf.edu (Principal
Investigator)
Axel Schulzgen (Co-Principal Investigator)
Thomas O'Neal (Co-Principal Investigator)
ABSTRACT
This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating a
novel multi-scale sensing technology to fill the technology void in
high-spatial resolution, non-invasive and non-contact measurement of material
stresses and damage. The system is important because it provides
structural integrity assessments in critical components for applications
ranging from aerospace structures including metallics and composites to civil
structures such as steel gussets in bridges and buildings to enhance safety.
The project will result in the development and scale-up of multi-scale, in-situ
piezospectroscopic technology. This uses a stress sensitive photo-luminescent
material that can be embedded in coatings on various structures. The stress
distribution is monitored based on optics technology which measure shifts in
the emission spectrum that are related to stress. This has the following unique
features: capability to provide intrinsic measurements of material stress;
multi-scale spatial resolution; in-situ measurements under various loading
conditions. These features provide the following advantages: quantitative
stress determination for a variety of structural substrates of metallic and
composite origin under various load environments, as well as demonstrated early
damage detection when compared to the leading competing non-invasive
techniques such as Digital image correlation in this market space.
This project addresses the following technology gaps as it translates from
research discovery toward commercial application; i) materials technology - the
deployment of sensing material needs to be optimized to define a process
configuration that ensures excellent bonding and uniform dispersion of
particles for effective and reliable sensing performance ii) optics technology
- the measurement of photo-luminescence emission from the particles must be
improved from point detection to area detection methods while ensuring current
spatial and stress resolution capabilities are maintained for efficient
inspection technology.
In addition, personnel involved in this project, including a graduate and
undergraduate student, will receive technology translation experiences through
industry collaboration and UCF's resources for entrepreneurship, which facilitates
opportunities such as the use of Maker Spaces and access to participation in
the NSF ICorps program at UCF's I-Corps Site. The project engages Lumium,
an optical measurements company, and Imperial College in London to
overcome challenges in area scanning and effective dispersion in this
technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial
reality.
