Abstract
We aimed to embed silica optical fibers in composites (epoxy vinyl ester matrix reinforced with E-glass unidirectional fibers in mass fraction of 60%) in order to further monitor the robustness of civil engineering structures (such as bridges). A simple system was implemented using two different silica optical fibers (F1—double coating of 172 μm diameter and F2—single coating of 101.8 μm diameter respectively). The optical fibers were dynamically tensile tested and Weibull plots were traced. Interfacial adhesion stress was determined using pull-out test and stress values were correlated to fracture mechanisms based on SEM observations. In the case of the optical fiber (OF) (F1)/resin system and OF (F1)/composite system, poor adhesion was reported that may be correlated to interface fracture at silica core level. Relevant applicable results were determined for OF (F2)/composite system.
Highlights
Composite materials are becoming accepted for use in many major structural applications, in the space, aerospace, marine, civil engineering, and automotive industries
Based on our previous experimental studies, the optical fiber was dynamically tensile tested for four different strain rates of 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 2.5 min−1 corresponding respectively to the tensile testing cross speed of 20, 100, 200 and 500 mm/min
For brittle materials as silica optical fibers, strength results obtained from tensile tests present a significant scattering
Summary
Composite materials are becoming accepted for use in many major structural applications, in the space, aerospace, marine, civil engineering, and automotive industries. The wide ranges of structural composites are based on polymeric matrices with glass or carbon reinforcement [1]. Intense research has been performed to develop “special fibers” for integration in smart structures in order to replace conventional sensors [2,3,4] and to provide information on the continuous evolution of damaged structures under mechanical stress, monitoring structural robustness [5,6]. The efficiency of optical fiber sensors to continuously monitor structure deformation and reinforcement cracks depends mainly on strength transfer at the interface level between the embedded optical fiber and the composite structure [7,8]. In order to assess mechanical properties at interface level and composites performance, certain testing, such as the pull-out test, has been developed [9,10]
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