Sensors integration during composite curing

These last years, researches have been carried out to find the best way to apply sensors in or on a composite structure. Nowadays, adhesives like 2K-Epoxy are used because they assure all recommended characteristics (durability, strength bond, resistance to adhesive fluids). However the time consumption is too long for industrial manufacturing process since sensor layers and adhesive have to be placed by hand. To save costs and time, the present work is investigating the possibility to use the panel resin as adhesive during auto clave process (Cobonding). To answer this question, an experiment is carried out at Airbus Bremen. In detail different sensors were placed by hand on the panel just before curing in autoclave. The aim of this experiment is to verify if sensors are still working after having been heated up to 180°C. In addition to this experiment, several different protection layers are investigated with respect to their influence on wave propagation. The authors are presenting preliminary results of this test