Researchers develop 'electronic skin' for detecting structural faults

摘要

Civil Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with physicists at the University of Potsdam in Germany, have proposed a method for continuous structural monitoring based on a prototype flexible skinlike fabric with electrical properties. The fabric could be adhered to areas of structures where cracks are likely to appear, such as the underside of a bridge, to detect cracks as they occur. The prototype of the sensing skin is made of soft, stretchy thermoplastic elastomer mixed with titanium dioxide that is highly sensitive to cracks, with painted patches of black carbon that measure the change in the electrical charge of the skin.