An Approach to Acoustic Emission Technique Applications to Evaluate Damage Mechanisms in Composite Materials

Abstract

Acoustic Emission technique is a versatile method for characterization in materials science. It is considered to be a “passive” non-destructive method since damage can be only evaluated when de defects are being developed during the test which, at the end of the day, it is considered an advantage because failure mechanisms and damage process can be monitored and identified during the load history. When a failure mechanism is activated due to a discontinuity in the material such as crack propagation, part of the total strain energy is dissipated as an elastic waves that propagate from the damage source through the medium. Therefore, this released energy can be detected by piezoelectric sensors that perceive the emitted signal from the damage notation site by the surface dynamic movement and convert it in an electrical response. Acoustic emission signals can be correlated with the onset of damage process occurring in the tested materials and also to de diverse failure mechanisms such as matrix cracking, interface damage, fiber fracture, etc. This paper proposes to discuss our information and results on acoustic emission materials characterization undertaken on different types of materials.