Wireless Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors Used for Quality Control in Glass Fiber Composite Laminates

Abstract

The production of new glass fiber composite parts is, to some extent, a trial-and-error process, which leads to high production costs and material waste. Embedding piezoresistive pressure sensors into composites during the manufacturing process allows for the determination of resin front flow and assists in preventing voids, ensuring complete fiber impregnation during infusion. This reduces material waste and the time required to produce a new part, therefore reducing production costs. When embedding pressure sensors in glass fiber laminates, the wires connecting the sensors often break during the infusion setup, rendering the sensors useless. Wireless pressure sensors solve this problem and simplify the setup required for embedding. In this work, two types of pressure sensors (analog and digital) were connected to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and successfully measured the resin flow front during infusion.