Health monitoring of repaired composite structure using MXene sensor

Abstract With the wide application of composite materials in aviation structures, the research on the repair methods of composite materials is getting deeper and deeper. However, due to the particularity of composite materials, it is difficult to visually observe the repair effect and service state of the composite repair structure, which requires a high sensitivity piezoresistive strain sensor. A novel MXene film sensor technology which can provide real time and in situ structure health monitoring of composite structures was proposed in this work. MXene thin films with excellent properties can be obtained by the preparation method proposed in this paper. MXene sensors are fabricated and arranged in arrays on the composite repair structure to monitor strain at different locations on the composite repair structure. The piezoresistive response of MXene sensor is obtained and the main working mechanism of MXene is explained. The array distribution of MXene sensors in the repaired structure provides a more effective and complete monitoring process for further understanding the failure mechanism of the repaired structure. The proposed monitoring method based on MXene sensor is suitable for studying the health monitoring of composite repair structures under tensile and compression conditions.