Abstract

NERO project arises from the need to control and monitor the manufacturing, repair, and in-service life structures processes in composite materials, an area in full expansion that has been experiencing rapid growth in recent years. Composite materials are currently considered one of the strategic materials in the manufacturing processes of the future, due to the high functional impact and weight reduction they provide in a wide range of sectors. In this way, the monitoring systems that have been developed in the project will contribute to overcoming some of the main barriers to the introduction of these materials in the industrial environment, such as the high consumption of resources, low automation ratios, and high percentage of rejections, which will significantly lower production costs. Based on this background, NERO has developed an advanced monitoring system based on non-invasive embedded sensors, which allow to carry out more efficient and environmentally sustainable manufacturing and repair processes of composite material structures, and which, in turn, provide information on the structural behavior during their service life. The ad hoc monitoring system developed in NERO employs fiber optic sensors (FOS), based on FBG and Rayleigh scattering, and ion mobility (DC) sensors. The monitoring and control system developed was validated for the manufacturing and repair processes of composite in three different use cases and industrial sectors.