Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Air travel is widely used throughout the globe as a fast and efficient form of transport for both passengers and cargo. Without exception, the highest priority for air travel is the structural integrity of the aircraft itself. Maintaining safe operating conditions will become a significant challenge as the demand for air travel increases with a growing global population and ease of migration. Aircraft structural health monitoring (SHM) is the assessment of an aircraft's structural condition using advanced sensor technologies, where data can be collected, transferred and analyzed to assess vehicle integrity. Preventative monitoring and maintenance can be achieved via diverse sensing modules that are incorporated into smart mechanical joints, and which can respond physical stimuli. These lightweight, smart mechanical joints can provide constant monitoring, and can predict catastrophic problems before they occur. We propose to develop self-powered nanosensors on shim substrates - creating smart mechanical joints that integrate piezoelectric and/or triboelectric nanomaterials with traditional shim technologies. Importantly, incorporation of these nanomaterials will have a negligible impact on the overall weight of the shim substrate, but will drastically expand it's functionality from single purpose (mechanic integrity) to multi-functional, intelligent joints (that can assess mechanical integrity, strain, predict damage, and facilitate energy-harvesting, etc). In addition, with the wide deployment of shims, structural health monitoring can easily and readily be implemented throughout all critical parts of the aircrafts. This technology will provide our industry sponsor, Shimco North America Inc., a next generation shim product, and allow Canadian industry to establish a leading position in advanced manufacturing. This project will also provide excellent training opportunities for HQP in the fields of nanotechnology, material sciences, nanoelectronics and*shim manufacture, providing a large pool of innovators for Canada's manufacturing, aerospace and green energy industrie