Direct integration of thin film piezoelectric sensors with structural materials for structural health monitoring

Structural health monitoring is a means for drastically decreasing the maintenance and logistical cost associated with vehicular platforms especially aircraft. A system of small piezoelectric sensors distributed throughout the vehicle will be capable of acting passively or actively to monitor the changes within a structure that presage a component failure, and they will be able to detect and localize all impacts on the structure and evaluate any damage. Piezoelectric thin films were directly integrated with structural titanium utilizing a metal-organic chemical solution approach. The optimum integration strategy yielded a process easily performed without a cleanroom and semiconductor fabrication tools.