A guide to select strain sensors to be embedded in smart metal parts built by WAAM
Résumé
Additive Manufacturing gives designers freedom to explore new way of thinking smart parts. Smart parts can be defined as parts that react, adjust themselves and/or communicate. Such tasks can be performed through embedded devices or in an independent way when a change in their environment occurs, decreasing or replacing a human intervention. They are an important step toward the establishment of the 4.0 industry. This study is focused on smart part with strain monitoring. Embedding sensors enable core measurement while ensuring protection of the device from outside impairment. Additive manufacturing makes it possible to embed such kind of sensor inside a part during the manufacturing process. These newly produced parts would be able to monitor their use and optimize their lifetime. Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing is a good candidate to produce smart parts. However, this process uses gas metal arc welding technology to build metallic parts in an additiveminded way and thus imply high current and high temperatures. These consequences make it difficult for some kind of strain sensing technologies to be embedded soundly. This paper benchmark various sensor technologies for monitoring part strain and groups them into three approaches: embedding electronic devices, embedding fibre optic sensors and embedding passive exogenous indicators. Each approach is presented through one of its major sensor technology, and their pro and cons are discussed. Finally, a guide is proposed and tested on three examples, to select the strain-sensing technology adapted to restrictions imposed by the specifications of each example and by the WAAM process.
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