Addition of Magnetic Markers for Non-destructive Evaluation of Polymer Composites

Polymer composite pipes are an appealing option as a substitute for conventional steel pipes, particularly due to their inherent corrosion resistance. However, the composite pipes currently used do not allow non-destructive evaluation (NDE) using instrumented devices which operate with magnetic sensors. The present work aims at the development of polymer composites with the addition magnetic markers to allow the application nondestructive evaluation techniques which use magnetic sensors. Glass-polyester composite flat, circular plates were fabricated with the addition of ferrite particles (barium ferrite and strontium ferrite) and four types of notches were introduced on the plates' surfaces. The influence of these notches on the measured magnetic properties of each material was measured. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption were used for the characterization of the ferrite particles. Particle dispersion in the polymer matrix was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). According to the results, a particular variation in magnetic field was detected over the region surrounding each type of notch. The results suggest that the proposed technique has great potential for damage detection in polymer composites using magnetic sensors and thus constitute a valuable contribution which may ultimately lead to the development of non-destructive evaluation techniques for assessing the structural integrity polymer composite pipes.