Patent ID: 8124661
Filing Date: 2012-02-28
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising the steps of: introducing a plurality of voids into a polymeric material, wherein the plurality of voids are contained within a plurality of hollow compressible microballoons having a thin polymer wall that encloses a gas and wherein the plurality of voids fill up to twenty-five percent of a total volume of the polymeric material, and the introduction of the plurality of voids into the polymeric material effects a decrease in a bulk modulus of the polymeric material without substantially altering a Young's modulus of the polymeric material; buffering one or more sensor fibers having one or more stress sensitive components in abutment with a portion of the polymeric material from one or more stresses through employment of the portion of the polymeric material that comprises one or more voids of the plurality of voids, said buffering further comprising the steps of: accommodating a movement of the portion of the polymeric material through compression of one or more of the one or more voids by means of compression of the gas in the hollow microballoons through a partial collapse of the thin polymer wall; wherein movement of a portion of the polymeric material is accommodated through compression of at least one of the voids, wherein polymeric material with the voids has a lower Poisson's ratio than the polymeric material without voids, and wherein, since the voids do not substantially alter the Young's modulus of the solid material, a decrease in the Poisson's ratio results in a decrease in the bulk modulus of the polymeric material.