Crack Detection of Composite Cylinders under external pressure using the Acoustic Emission

Abstract

The studies on the non-destructive testing methods of the composite materials are very important for improving their reliability and safety. AE(Acoustic Emission) can evaluate the defects by detecting the emitting strain energy when elastic waves are generated by the generation and growth of a crack, plastic deformation, fiber breakage, matrix cleavage or delamination. In this paper, the AE signals of the filament wound composite cylinder and sandwich cylinder during the pressure test were measured and analyzed. The signal characteristics of PVDF sensors were measured, and an AE signal analyzer which had the band-pass filter and L-C resonance filter were designed and fabricated. Also, the crack detection capability of the fabricated AE signal analyzer wes evaluated during the pressure tests of the filament wound composite cylinder and the sandwich cylinder.