Self-diagnosis of structural damage in self-powered piezoelectric composites

At present, nondestructive testing and non-self-powered structure health monitoring methods are usually used to judge the damage of fiber reinforced composites. However, these methods have some limitations due to the lack of real-time characteristics, the need for external power supply or the complex structure of sensor. In this work, the piezoelectric nanogenerator mechanism was integrated into the traditional composites to develop the piezoelectric composite with damage self-diagnosis function. The piezoelectric composites can realize structural health monitoring and damage localization without reducing the original mechanical properties. The effects of PVDF and barium titanate on the mechanical properties of the composites were investigated by experiments and simulations. Furthermore, the damage self-diagnosis characteristics of composites under bending load and impact load were studied. The algebraic relationship between the damage area and the open circuit voltage under impact load was established. In addition, the damage localization of composite materials is realized by designing an Application (APP). In general, this work has successfully set a precedent for the application of nanogenerator mechanism to the self-powered and self-diagnosis of composite damage, which has the potential to be used in any field related to composites, such as aerospace, etc.