As the nation's infrastructure continues to age, researchers continue to seek better methods of detecting such signs of wear and tear as cracks and corrosion in the hope of preventing disasters. Many of these methods involve the difficult and costly installation of sensing devices, but engineers and nanotechnologists at the University of Michigan have joined forces to develop a material that can, much like a paint or other protective coating, be applied directly to structures and can also detect strain, cracks, and corrosion.rnThe material comprises layers of carbon nanotubes, which are among the central building blocks of nanotech-nology, according to Jerome P. Lynch, Ph.D., a.m.asce, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university. "It can self-sense, which means that it can change its electrical properties with some sort of external stimulus," he explains.
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机译：随着国家基础设施的不断老化，研究人员继续寻求更好的方法来检测裂缝和腐蚀等磨损迹象，以期预防灾难。这些方法中的许多方法都涉及到困难且昂贵的传感设备的安装，但是密歇根大学的工程师和纳米技术人员共同开发了一种材料，该材料可以像涂料或其他保护性涂层一样直接应用于建筑物，并且还可以根据民用和环境学助理教授Jerome P. Lynch博士amasce的说法，这种材料包括碳纳米管层，碳纳米管层是纳米技术的核心组成部分。大学的工程学。他解释说：“它可以自我感知，这意味着它可以通过某种外部刺激来改变其电性能。”
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