Moisture contamination detection in adhesive bond using embedded FBG sensors

The paper presents an application of embedded fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for moisture contamination detection in an adhesive bond between two composite elements. FBG sensors are a great tool to Structural Health Monitoring of composite structures due to their high corrosion resistance as well as their small size and weight. Adhesive bonds are very popular in many industrial branches. One of the major problem limits the use of an adhesive joints is they sensitivity on water form ambient. Even the 1% of moisture affects an adhesive bond layer strength. FBG sensors can be use for detection of even a small amount of moisture concentration (1-3% of sample weight). It can be also used for determination of moisture concentration changes during both soaking and drying processes.