Damage detection and localisation of CMCs by means of electrical health monitoring

Carbon-based composites such as C/C-SiC are used in thermal protection systems for atmospheric re-entry. The electrical properties of this semiconductor material can be used for health monitoring, as electrical resistivity changes with damage, strain, and temperature. In this work, electrical resistance measurements are used to detect damage in a thermal protection system made of C/C-SiC. This can be done in-situ. Damage experiments with $$320\,\hbox {mm}\,\times \,120\,\hbox {mm}\,\times \,3\hbox { mm}$$ 320 mm × 120 mm × 3 mm panel shaped samples were conducted with a multiplexer switching unit to determine up to 288 electrical resistance and voltage measurements per cycle time and spatially resolved. The change in resistance is an indicator for damage, and with the use of post-processing algorithms, the location of the damage can be determined. With these data, inhomogeneous temperatures can be accorded for and damage can be detected. This method reacts even to small damages where less than 0.02% of the monitored surface is damaged. A localisation with a deviation from the real defect of less than 8% in sample width and 17% in sample length is presented.