Detection of acoustic emission from composite laminates using PVF2 transducers

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF2), a semicrystalline polymer exhibiting piezoelectricity, is presently used as a sensing transducer in acoustic emission (AE) monitoring of several different composite laminate materials in order to obtain both quasi-static and fatigue loading results. AE signals obtained from PVF2 transducers are compared with those obtained by standard AE sensors. It is noted that PVF2 transducers may, through the application of spectral signal analysis, be able to distinguish between two distinct failure modes which have been observed in two composite laminates of the same material, but employing different lamina stacking sequences.