Fiber optic approach for detecting corrosion

Abstract

Corrosion is a multi-billion dollar problem faced by industry. The ability to monitor the hidden metallic structure of an aircraft for corrosion could result in greater availability of existing aircraft fleets. Silica exposedcore microstructured optical fiber sensors are inherently suited towards this application, as they are extremely lightweight, robust, and suitable both for distributed measurements and for embedding in otherwise inaccessible corrosion-prone areas. By functionalizing the fiber with chemosensors sensitive to corrosion by-products, we demonstrate in-situ kinetic measurements of accelerated corrosion in simulated aluminum aircraft joints.

Short-Range Non-Bending Fully Distributed Water/Humidity Sensors

“…This is the smallest spatial resolution demonstrated for distributed sensors employing ECF. An earlier work based on fully distributed fluorescence-based sensing employed ECF of 20 cm length [30]. Owing to fluorescence-life-time-and modaldispersion-induced pulse broadening (i.e., heavily multimode), Δz of ∼5 m can be inferred from the pulse width in their results [30].…”

Surface Functionalization of Exposed Core Glass Optical Fiber for Metal Ion Sensing

“…Al 3+ was chosen as a model metal ion to investigate the capability of surface functionalized ECF for metal ion sensing as the benefits for the detection of Al 3+ ions span from patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease [18,19], over toxicity in plants [20,21,22] to monitoring corrosion [23,24]. Moreover, detecting and monitoring of Al 3+ ions can minimize its impact on human health.…”

“…Polyelectrolytes coated SCF have been reported to attach fluorophores for Al 3+ ion sensing [13]. Other SCF and ECF coatings for metal ion sensing used (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) [24,25]. Moreover, Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) coated ECF has been reported for detecting Al 3+ ions [26].…”