Triboluminescent materials for structural damage monitoring

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry 2001-01, Vol.11 (2), p.231-245
• Main Authors: SAGE, Ian, BOURHILL, Grant
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Exact sciences and technology; General equipment and techniques; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Other luminescence and radiative recombination; Physics; Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing; Sonoluminescence, triboluminescence
• ISSN: 0959-9428; 1364-5501
• DOI: 10.1039/b007029g

Triboluminescent materials have been known for at least four centuries. The majority of work to date has been academic in nature - reporting a new triboluminescent material and/or presenting a spectroscopic study in an effort to explain the mechanism underlying the fracture-induced light emission. Recently, the advantages of triboluminescent materials as real-time structural damage sensors have been highlighted. These sensors can be exploited in both commercial and military markets. In addition to covering some of the recent advances in the field, this paper aims to provide a timely overview of those triboluminescent materials which may be suitable as structural damage sensors. (Examples include addition of triboluminescent materials to fiber reinforced plastic composites.)