Session: 01-08-02: Nondestructive Evaluation and Structural Health Monitoring 2

Paper Number: 160164

160164 - Digital Image Analytics for Evaluation of Nanoparticle Impregnation in Woven Fabrics 

Surface and infiltrating treatments (impregnation) of woven fabrics using nanoparticles have been proven to improve their mechanical, optical, and aesthetic performance in diverse applications. The accuracy, uniformity, and repeatability of the nanoparticle impregnation process determine the quality of the functionalities bestow on such flexible hybrid composites. Furthermore, tailored inhomogeneities could lend anisotropic functionalities desirable in some applications. Current evaluation techniques like various types of spectroscopy or microscopy are either resource-intensive or are practical only for very small sample sizes. Therefore, there is a critical need for a fast, full-field, cost-effective, non-destructive and reliable technique to evaluate the impregnation quality for woven fabrics. To this end, the development of a new approach using digital image analytics (DIA) to evaluate the accuracy and uniformity of nanoparticle impregnation in woven fabrics is explored in this study. The impregnation of 80 nm spherical silica nanoparticles into Kevlar K746 fabric is considered for the test cases. Three trackable heuristic markers are identified from greyscale value histograms of digital images to extract statistically-relevant data sets for neat and treated samples that enable correlation with nanoparticle impregnation. Finally, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are used to compare and contrast with the DIA results for verification.

Presenting Author: Oluwafemi Akinmolayan Oklahoma State University

Presenting Author Biography: Oluwafemi Paul Akinmolayan is a PhD Candidate in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Oklahoma State University (OSU). He obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria in 2017 and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo, Nigeria in 2014. He received a student best paper award at the 2020 INTER-NOISE conference and a distinguished graduate fellowship from the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at OSU in 2024. He was the student project leader for acoustic testing of aerostructures for Textron Aviation at OSU in 2024. Oluwafemi's research interests are in acoustic characterization of flexible and hybrid composites for multifunctional applications.