SYSTEM AND METHOD TO MONITOR A THERMAL ENVIRONMENT OF A COMPOSITE STRUCTURE USING A THERMOCHROMATIC WITNESS ASSEMBLY

摘要

There is provided a system, a method, and a thermochromatic witness assembly (300) to monitor a thermal environment (326) of a composite structure (328). The thermochromatic witness assembly (300) has a polymeric material (310) and one or more thermochromatic probes (306) mixed into the polymeric material (310) to form a thermochromatic probe mixture (320). The thermochromatic probe mixture (320) is applied to a transparent polymeric film (322), or is formed into the transparent polymeric film (322) with a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) (312) applied thereto, thus forming the thermochromatic witness assembly (300) in a form of a thermochromatic applique (302, 302a, 302b). The thermochromatic applique (302, 302a, 302b) is configured to be applied directly and continuously to a surface (330) of the composite structure (328). The thermochromatic applique (302, 302a, 302b) is further configured to monitor the thermal environment (326) of the composite structure (328) by detecting one or more temperatures (332) and one or more times (334) the surface (330) of the composite structure (328) is exposed to the thermal environment (326).