Smart materials: strain sensing and stress determination by means of nanotube sensing systems, composites, and devices
US7730547B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 23, 2004 |
| Grant date | Jun 1, 2010 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 7, 2027 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01L1/241
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The present invention is directed toward devices comprising carbon nanotubes that are capable of detecting displacement, impact, stress, and/or strain in materials, methods of making such devices, methods for sensing/detecting/monitoring displacement, impact, stress, and/or strain via carbon nanotubes, and various applications for such methods and devices. The devices and methods of the present invention all rely on mechanically-induced electronic perturbations within the carbon nanotubes to detect and quantify such stress/strain. Such detection and quantification can rely on techniques which include, but are not limited to, electrical conductivity/conductance and/or resistivity/resistance detection/measurements, thermal conductivity detection/measurements, electroluminescence detection/measurements, photoluminescence detection/measurements, and combinations thereof. All such techniques rely on an understanding of how such properties change in response to mechanical stress and/or strain.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.