MERGE — Cluster of Excellence: Technology Fusion for Multifunctional Lightweight Structures
Within the IRD C3 sub-project of the federal Cluster of Excellence, a mass-production-ready process is being developed to manufacture active composite materials from sheet metal and thermoplastic sensor films. To this end, functionalized polymer granules are processed into piezoelectric film strips using film drawing technology. The metallic outer layers are subsequently bonded to the piezo film in a continuous thermal joining process. The resulting active sensor composite tape is subjected to polarization to imprint a preferred electrical orientation and is then made available for further processing in IRD A. The sensor film is intended to detect and localize impacts and deformations in MMD structures. A cost-effective embedded system is being developed to analyze the generated signals; based on characteristic voltage patterns and their propagation times, this system enables the localization and characterization of events while also adapting to expected parameter variations inherent in the mass production process.
