Bonding piezoelectric wafers for application in structural health monitoring-adhesive selection

Abstract

Piezoelectric (PZT) wafers are widely applied in the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), and a common practice is to permanently attach them to the inspected structure using different types of adhesive systems. The effect of five adhesive systems on the excitation of guided waves, in particular on the fundamental antisymmetric A0 and symmetric S0 Lamb wave modes are experimentally assessed. The curing progress of the adhesive systems at room temperature was monitored and the effect on signal magnitude is characterized. In addition, the effect of the adhesive on the waveform and the propagation velocity of the transmitted wave signals are investigated. The bondline thickness and the shear modulus of the adhesive system selected is considered in order to increase the magnitude of the excited wave signals. © Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.