Like every novel technology, piezoelectricity has contributed to important scientific achievements to Acoustic Emission (AE) and ultrasonic sensor technology, but there still are technical limitations that need to be resolved. The concept of the technology proposed originated from the feedbacks from professionals expertizing on structural integrity monitoring in Non-destructive Testing (NDT) industry as well as several discussion with former doctoral students dedicated to relevant research areas. The proposed piezoelectric-nanocompostie based acoustic/ultrasonic transducer array technology has great potential to resolve several of the performance limiting issues. In addition, due to the high cost of traditional sensors and the requirements in terms of sensor volumes, an alternative and more affordable transducer technology is urgently needed for design teams in relevant technology companies. Modern acoustic and ultrasonic sensing technologies are able to supply an enormous amount of information of health conditions of aging civil infrastructure to avoid a catastrophic failure, thereby making an important impact on the public safety and economical investments. The technology proposed will expedite a wider employment of acoustic emission or ultrasonic transducers on objects of unique geometries or in special working conditions, while allowing substantial cost reduction and shortening the design-cycle due to superb adaptability of the piezo-composites processes. Therefore, with the new piezo-nanocomposite technology introduced, it is reasonable to anticipate a marketing expansion in different categories of business, such as NDT provider and wearable medical electronics companies.
The key objective of this program is to develop piezoelectric elastomer or thermoplastic nanocomposites that are amenable to additive manufacturing of flexible or 3D conformal transducer array prototypes for detection of acoustic emission or ultrasonic signals. One of the most popular applications relying on the utilization of acoustic emission is to determine if cracks are growing at the interior of a structure or to monitor its degree of deterioration. However, oftentimes, it is very difficult and costly to achieve an accurate or even accessible measurement readings on tested objects because of some certain special technical requirement, e.g. unique geometry or frequency selection. The proposed technology facilitates low-cost volume production of acoustic emission or ultrasonic transducer arrays that are well tailored for structural health monitoring of concrete, steel, and composite structures and rotating machinery. In this I-Corps program a commercial assessment of will be conducted on a new piezo-nanocomposite material technology that enables customized design, molding or additive manufacturing (3D printing) and ease of deployment of a new class of flexible and/or 3D conformal acoustic and ultrasonic transducer arrays.
