Self-sensing E-glass fibres

Abstract The primary aims of this study were to demonstrate that conventional reinforcing E-glass fibres could be converted to act as waveguides. This was achieved by selecting and applying appropriate cladding material onto the glass fibre bundle. Three classes of cladding materials were evaluated: epoxy, polyurethane and sol–gel. The light transmission characteristics through the E-glass waveguides was evaluated and compared. The epoxy and polyurethane cladding were found to be superior compared to the sol–gel coated fibres in terms of the quality of the coating and the light transmission intensity over specified lengths. The effect of fibre-end preparation on the light transmission characteristic was also investigated. The feasibility of conducting in situ tensile tests where the light transmission intensity was passed through the E-glass fibres was demonstrated successfully. This in situ technique was capable of highlighting differences in the macroscopic tensile failure modes obtained using the various cladding materials.