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02 Jul 2008  -  United States

Sensor film technology significantly reduces warped and rejected composite parts

Sensor Products Inc. presents Pressurex®, a thin sensor film that carefully maps and measures the amount of interfacial stress exerted on honeycomb cores, composite lay-ups and bonded surfaces within composite structures. By using Pressurex® to see how surface stresses are distributed, an engineer can observe inconsistencies and misregistration in composite parts and thereby greatly reduce the yield defect rate. Other applications for Pressurex® include determination of press planarity in lamination processes, monitoring of vacuum bagging pressures, confirmation of pressure uniformity on wound filaments parts, and calibration of tools and equipment. 

Pressurex® comes in the form of a thin plastic sheet or roll that can be cut to required dimensions. When placed between contacting or mating surfaces, the film instantaneously and permanently changes color. This color change is a direct result of the amount of pressure applied. Comparison of color variations to a color correlation chart (conceptually similar to interpreting Litmus paper) can help determine precise pressure magnitude. Pressurex® can detect pressures from 2 to 43,200 PSI (.14 to 3,037 kg/cm2). Depending on the requirements of the project, Additional evaluation and analysis can be performed with an optical analysis system (Topaq®) available from Sensor Products Inc. 

In the aerospace industry, Pressurex® has been used to determine the exact amount of pressure causing cracks in the inner spars of a helicopter’s main rotor blade. A large sheet of Pressurex® was inserted into the bonding tool, bagged up, and pressurized in the autoclave. When the film was removed, the exact amount of pressure causing the crack was determined.

About Sensor Products Inc. (USA)
New Jersey USA based Sensor Products Inc., established in 1990, is a world leader in the manufacture and distribution of tactile pressure sensing solutions. Their customized and off-the-shelf products are installed within all of the Fortune 500 industrial companies as well as thousands of smaller manufacturing firms. Their sensors are used in applications as diverse as tire testing to semiconductor manufacturing and from R&D labs to space missions. Additionally, Sensor Products provides in-house and on-site stress and pressure mapping analysis, as well as a variety of regional technical seminars.

Source : Sensor Products