Increasing the triboluminescence of europium tetrakis dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium for its use as an impact sensor

3^rd International Conference and Exhibition on Materials Science & Engineering

October 06-08, 2014 Hilton San Antonio Airport, USA

Ross S Fontenot and William A Hollerman

Accepted Abstracts: Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

As mankind continues to extend technological boundaries, sensors must be improved in order to keep pace. A current problem facing engineers and scientists is how to actively monitor structures for damage. There are a number of techniques currently being used for damage detection; however, the major drawbacks of the current techniques are they do not provide in-situ and distributed sensing. Wiedemann and Schmidt defined triboluminescence (TL) as the emission of light produced by mechanical action. In recent years, triboluminescent materials have been proposed for use as the active element in smart structural sensors. To sense damage, these materials would be embedded into the structure. When damage occurs to this structure, the embedded triboluminescent material would give off visible light. This light could be transferred by lightweight fiber optics or wireless detector to a computer-based detection system that is capable of real-time monitoring of both the magnitude and location of the structure damage. Over the past decade, we have been advancing this technology on both the material and application sides. In 2010, a triboluminescent sensor capable of determining the amount of impacts that have taken place was being developed. Later in 2013, significant strides in increasing the triboluminescence emitted from europium tetrakis dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium (EuD4TEA), i.e., one of the brightest known materials, six fold were made. This talk will discuss these advances in EuD4TEA.

Biography :

Ross S Fontenot is currently an Assistant Research Professor of Physics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Senior Editor for Editage. He has published more than 30 papers on triboluminescence and materials synthesis in some of the leading journals in the field including Journal of Luminescence, Materials Today, Polymer Journal, CrystEngComm, and Crystal Research and Technology. He has also given presentations on a variety of scientific topics at scientific conferences all over the United States.