Study on the intelligent self-healing fiber optic microbend sensors based on the photocurable material

摘要

The paper presents a novel fiber optic microbend sensor with intelligent self-healing function, which is based upon the photocurable technology and the mode-coupling theory. In the research, a kind of photocurable material is developed and injected into the flexible hollow-center fiber embodying the sensitive optic fiber. According to the theory of fiber optic microbend sensors, the microbending mechanism causes part of the optical power to be radiated out of the fiber due to the mode-coupling. Especially when the damage of the sensitive optic fiber occurs due to the extremely small bending radius, the radiation power will increase rapidly. We use the radiation power as the curing light to initiate the photopolymerization of the photocurable material surrounding the sensitive optic fiber. The scale and speed of the photochemistry reaction mainly depend on the radiation power and the microbend degree. By this way, the photocurable material can repair the damaged area in real time according to the damaged state. This paper describes the design and performances of the intelligent self-healing fiber optic microbend sensor in detail. The experimental results reveal that the sensor has the excellent sensing property and can adjust its repairing ability according to the damaged degree automatically.