Metal rubber sensor technology to enable in-flight icing measurement

Michelle Berg; Jennifer Lalli; Richard Claus; Richard E. Kreeger

doi:10.1117/12.2260135

12 April 2017 Metal rubber sensor technology to enable in-flight icing measurement

Michelle Berg, Jennifer Lalli, Richard Claus, Richard E. Kreeger

Proceedings Volume 10168, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2017; 101683K (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2260135
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2017, Portland, Oregon, United States

Abstract

This paper describes the development and testing of Metal Rubber sensors for the nondestructive, normal force detection of ice accretion on aerospace structures. The buildup of ice on aircraft engine components, wings and rotorblades is a problem for both civilian and military aircraft that must operate under all weather conditions. Ice adds mass to moving components, thus changing the equations of motion that control the operation of the system as well as increasing drag and torque requirements. Ice also alters the surface geometry of leading edges, altering the airflow transition from laminar to turbulent, generating turbulence and again increasing drag. Metal Rubber is a piezoresistive material that exhibits a change in electrical resistance in response to physical deformation. It is produced as a freestanding sheet that is assembled at the molecular level using alternating layers of conductive metal nanoparticles and polymers. As the volume percentage of the conductive nanoparticle clusters within the material is increased from zero, the onset of electrical conduction occurs abruptly at the percolation threshold. Electrical conduction occurs due to electron hopping between the clusters. If a length of the material is strained, the clusters move apart so the efficiency of electron hopping decreases and electrical resistance increases. The resulting change in resistance as a function of the change in strain in the material, at a specific volume percentage of conductive clusters, can be interpreted as the transduction response of the material. We describe how sensors fabricated from these materials can be used to measure ice buildup.

Citation Download Citation

Michelle Berg, Jennifer Lalli, Richard Claus, and Richard E. Kreeger "Metal rubber sensor technology to enable in-flight icing measurement", Proc. SPIE 10168, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2017, 101683K (12 April 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2260135

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KEYWORDS

Sensors

Resistance

Nanoparticles

Polymers

Gold

Skin

Aerospace engineering

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