Ultrasensitive Wireless Crack-Based Strain Sensors

Overview

This research develops ultrasensitive wireless strain sensors that exploit controlled cracking and fragmentation in thin metallic films.

By tuning film fragmentation, small mechanical strains produce large changes in electrical response, enabling high-sensitivity readout through RFID and related radiofrequency architectures without onboard batteries.

These passive wireless sensors are suited to structural health monitoring of large infrastructure and composite structures, where dense, low-power sensing is needed across applications such as oil and gas assets, bridges, aerospace, and wind energy.

Highlights

• High-sensitivity RFID strain sensing for structural health monitoring
• Optimization of metallic-film fragmentation for cracked-based strain sensors
• Passive wireless readout suitable for large-area SHM applications

Videos

• Portable VNA Readout of a Flexible Crack-Based RFID Coil

  Handheld S11 measurement of a flexible crack-based RFID coil sensor using a portable vector network analyzer.
• Near-Field Interrogation of a Crack-Based Wireless Strain Sensor

  Laboratory near-field probing of a crack-based wireless strain sensor with a vector network analyzer.

Figures

Related publications

• High-Sensitivity RFID Sensor for Structural Health Monitoring
  H. Nesser, H. A. Mahmoud, G. Lubineau · Advanced Science (2023) · [link]
• Optimization Fragmentation of Metallic Film for Cracked-Based Strain Sensors
  H. A. Mahmoud, H. Nesser, A. Wagih, G. Lubineau · ACS Applied Electronic Materials (2024) · [link]