Stress measurement of magnetic materials, and FRP and adhesive members with such material for defect detection

Abstract: To determine the condition of a member (F), which may be a resin reinforced plastics body or an adhesive layer, the stress of a tensile-loaded soft magnetic metal wire (4) embedded therein is measured by applying to it an A.C. magnetic field exceeding a coercive force of the wire using an exciting coil (2), and thereby inducing an A.C. electromotive force in a detecting coil (3). An effective value or distortion factor of one or more of the higher harmonic wave components in the waveform of the A.C. electromotive force is determined as a measurement amount which indicates the stress on the wire (4), and so any defects in the member (F). By taking hicher harmonic wave components as an amount in this manner, the stress of the wire (4) and so the condition of the member can be measured correctly.

Description: The invention relates to a process for measuring the stress of a magnetic material, particularly to an improvement in a process for measuring the stress of an FRP (fiber-reinforced plastics) member or adhesive by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a magnetic material; an FRP member whose internal damage is detectable, particularly an FRP member whose internal damage can be detected by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a soft magnetic material; and an adhesive layer forming adhesive member whose internal defects are detectable, particularly an adhesive member for forming an adhesive layer for bonding one member to another, and for detecting internal defects by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a soft magnetic material. Such a stress-measuring process is conventionally known, which uses, as a measurement value, a variation in distribution of higher harmonic wave components including stress information of a magnetic material in an output signal, i.e. a ratio of outputs of two types of higher harmonic wave components (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 201126/1986). However, this prior art process has a problem in that the output ratio is varied such as to describe a curve having one peak with respect of a variation in stress. Therefore, notwithstanding that the stress of the magnetic material is different on opposite sides of the peak value, the same output ratio may be measured in some cases, resulting in poor correctness. An FRP member of the above-described type is known which includes a long carbon fiber embedded in an FRP member body (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 114741/1985). The internal damage of this FRP member is detected by measuring an electric resistance of the long carbon fiber. This is because if internal damage is produced in the FRP member, the long carbon fiber is broken, and the electric resistance value is varied. However, this prior art FRP member has a problem in that it is impossible to detect fine internal damage which is so small that it does not cause the breaking of the long carbon fiber, e.g. a hair crack produced in a plastics matrix around the long carbon fiber or an interfacial separation between the long carbon fiber and the plastics matrix. Conventionally known methods for estimating an adhesive layer include a performance test method according to the general rules of a weathering resistance test method defined in JIS-K-6860, and a non-fracture inspecting method such as an ultrasonic damage searching method or an X-ray method. However, the performance test method is a method applied to only a test piece, and hence it is very difficult to estimate the adhesive layer between two members to be bonded. On the other hand, the non-fracture test method can provide an estimation result in its own way, if it is applied to a test piece. However, the non-fracture test method is unsuitable for an adhesive layer of the above-described type, because there are many limitations to the shape, size and the like of the adhesive layer. It is an object of the invention to provide an FRP member of the above-described type, which is formed so that very small internal damage of the above-described type can be detected correctly. To achieve the above object according to the invention, there is provided a fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) member whose internal damage is detectable by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a soft magnetic material, characterised in that the FRP member comprises an FRP member body having the magnetic material embedded therein, preferably in the form of a plurality of soft magnetic material elements embedded in the FRP member body so as to form a single layer extending along a surface of the FRP member body, the material being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realised because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state. If the plurality of soft magnetic material elements are mounted to form the layer extending along the surface of the FRP member body, the stress of the soft magnetic material elements can be measured from its surface side with good accuracy. If a hair crack is produced in a plastics matrix within the FRP member body, or an interfacial separation is produced between the plastics matrix and the soft magnetic material elements, the binding force on the soft magnetic material elements and thus the originally applied external force is decreased and the stress of the soft magnetic material elements is correspondingly decreased, whereby very small internal damage of the FRP member can be detected. In this case, the soft magnetic material elements are at equal short distances from the surface of the FRP member body and, therefore, the level of an output from the soft magnetic material elements and pertaining to internal information of the FRP member is high, whereby the presence or absence of internal damage can be detected with high sensitivity. For example, if the plurality of soft magnetic material elements are disposed within the FRP member body to form two or more layers extending along one surface of the FRP member body, damage is liable to be produced in the vicinity of the surface of the FRP member due to the magnitude of the strain provided when flexure is produced. When damage has been produced in the vicinity of the surface of the FRP member, if there is further soft magnetic material located in a non-damaged area deeper than such damage, information that the member is undamaged is also simultaneously detected and, for this reason, internal damage information becomes vague. The application of the external force to the soft magnetic material elements may be realized because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating, but a method comprising embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastics matrix in a tension-applied state may be employed. Further, it is an object of the invention to provide an adhesive member of the above-described type, which is capable of forming an adhesive layer whose internal defects can be detected in a non-broken state. To achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided an adhesive member for forming an adhesive layer for bonding one member to another, and for detecting internal defects by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a soft magnetic material, characterised in that the adhesive member comprises a main body formed of uncured adhesive having the magnetic material embedded therein, preferably in the form of a plurality of soft magnetic material elements, the magnetic material being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto after curing of the main body, which external force may be realized because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state. When the members are bonded to one another using the above-described adhesive member, the stress of the soft magnetic material elements can be measured with good accuracy from a surface of either member by utilizing the magneto-mechanical property of the soft magnetic material, because the elements are embedded within the adhesive layer with predetermined stress. On the other hand, if an internal defect such as a crack is produced in the main body of the cured adhesive layer, the binding force on the magnetic material elements and thus the originally applied external force is decreased and hence the stress of the elements is also correspondingly decreased, whereby the internal defect of the adhesive layer can be easily detected in the non-broken state. Immediately after bonding of the members, the stress of the soft magnetic material elements is detected along a surface of either of the members, and if there is a portion having an abnormal detected stress value, such portion is regarded as a defectively bonded portion. In this manner, the adhesive member may also be used for judging whether or not the adhesive layer formed therefrom is good. For example, if the main body is formed of an uncured thermosetting synthetic resin-based adhesive and has an extremely thin thickness, and the members to be bonded have a thermal expansion coefficient different from that of the soft magnetic material elements, the application of the external force to the soft magnetic material elements may be realized because of the thermal expansion coefficient difference, but a method for curing the main body in a condition in which tension has been applied to the soft magnetic material elements may be employed. It is a further object of the invention to provide a stress measure process for a FRP or adhesive member which can perform correct measurement of the stress by detecting the stress of a magnetic material as an effective value of higher harmonic wave components including stress information, and thus as a measurement amount. Here, and throughout the text, the effective value of a harmonic component should be taken to mean a value relates to the amplitude of the harmonic component, such as preferably the value obtained by dividing the amplitude of the harmonic component by √2. To achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided a process for measuring the stress of a fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) member or adhesive member, characterized by the steps of: embedding soft magnetic material into the body of a FRP member or into the adhesive body of an uncured adhesive member, said material being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realized because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state; applying to the magnetic material an A.C. magnetic field exceeding a coercive force of the magnetic material by use of an exciting coil so as to induce an A.C. electromotive force in a detecting coil through the magnetic material; and determining, as a measurement amount, an effective value of one or more higher harmonic wave components including stress information of the magnetic material in the waveform of the A.C. electromotive force. In addition, according to the invention, there is provided a process for measuring the stress of a fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) member or adhesive member, characterized by the steps of: embedding soft magnetic material into the body of a FRP member or into the adhesive body of an uncured adhesive member, said material being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realized because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state; applying to the magnetic material an A.C. magnetic field exceeding a coercive force of the magnetic material by use of an exciting coil so as to induce an A.C. electromotive force in a detecting coil through the magnetic material; and determining, as a measurement amount, a distortion factor of one or more higher harmonic wave components including stress information of the magnetic material in the waveform of the A.C. electromotive force. As described above, if the effective value of the distortion factor of the one or more higher harmonic wave components including stress information of the magnetic material is determined as a measurement amount, i.e. if the higher harmonic wave components are taken as an amount, the stress of the magnetic material can be measured with a high accuracy and therefore a very small variation in stress can be detected. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments, given by way of example only, and taken on conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is an illustration of the principle of a stress measuring process; Fig. 2 is a diagram of magnetization curves for soft magnetic metal wires; Fig. 3 is a waveform diagram of an A.C. electromotive force V 2 ; Fig. 4 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the stress and the effective values Ev1 and Ev2 of higher harmonic wave components; Fig. 5 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the stress and the distortion factor K of the higher harmonic wave components; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one example of an FRP member having amorphous metal wires embedded therein; Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating one example of the relationship between carbon fiber cloths and the amorphous metal wires in the FRP member; Fig. 8 is a schematic view illustrating a first example of a stress measuring device and a stress measuring process; Fig. 9 is a schematic view illustrating a second example of a stress measuring device and a stress measuring process; Fig. 10 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the number of repetitions of a stress cycle and the Young's modulus as well as the effective values Ev1 and Ev2 and the distortion factor K of higher harmonic wave components; Fig. 11 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the effective value E 1 of a fundamental wave component; Fig. 12 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the Young's modulus, the voltage between peaks Vm1 - Vm2 as well as the effective value E 5 of a fifth harmonic wave component; Fig. 13 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the ratio E 3 /E 5 of effective values of third and fifth harmonic wave components; Fig. 14 is a perspective view illustrating another example of an FRP member having amorphous metal wires embedded therein; Fig. 15 is a diagram illustrating another example of the relationship between carbon fiber cloths and amorphous metal wires in the FRP member; Fig. 16 is a diagram illustrating a further example of the relationship between carbon fiber cloths and amorphous metal wires in the FRP member; Fig. 17 is a graph illustrating the relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the effective value Evl of higher harmonic wave components; Fig. 18 is a perspective view of an adhesive member; Fig. 19 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 19-19 in Fig. 18; Fig. 20 is a perspective view of two FRP members bonded to each other through an adhesive layer; Fig. 21 is a schematic view illustrating a third example of a stress measuring device and a stress measuring process; Fig. 22 is a graph illustrating one example of the relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the distortion factor K of higher harmonic wave components; and Fig. 23 is a graph illustrating another example of the relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the distortion factor K of higher harmonic wave components. First, the principle of a stress measuring process according to the invention will be described. Referring to Fig. 1, a soft magnetic metal wire 4 as a magnetic material is inserted through an exciting coil 2 connected to an oscillator 1 and through a detecting coil 3. A predetermined tension load is applied to the metal wire 4. If the oscillator 1 is operated to apply to the metal wire 4 an A.C. magnetic field H exceeding a coercive force Hc of the metal wire 4 and including no D.C. magnetic field component by the exciting coil 2, an A.C. electromotive force V 2 which is symmetric in plus and minus is induced in the detecting coil 3 through the metal wire 4. Here, the A.C. electromotive force V 2 is represented by the following expression: V 2 = -d/dt = -α(1+4Π.dI/dH) .dH/dt wherein  is a magnetic flux; t is time; α is a coefficient; I is an intensity of magnetization of the metal wire 4; and H is an intensity of the A.C. magnetic field. The A.C. magnetic field H is represented by the following expression (2): H = Hm.sin(2Πf o t+ϕ o ) wherein Hm is an amplitude of the A.C. magnetic field H; f o is frequency; and ϕ o is a phase angle. Here, the expression (2) is differentiated by time t to provide an expression (3): dH/dt = 2Πf o Hm.cos (2Πf o t+ϕ o ) If dH/dt in expression (3) is substituted into expression (1), the A.C. electromotive force V 2 is represented by the following expression (4): V 2 = -2Παf o Hm(1+4Π.dI/dH) .cos(2Πf o t+ϕ o ) In the course of magnetization of the soft magnetic metal wire 4, a magnetization curve as shown by line a in Fig. 2 is obtained and hence the expression (4) is represented by the following expression (5) using an instantaneous magnetization rate dI(H)/dH: V 2 = -2Παf o Hm(1+4Π.dI(H)/dH) .cos (2Πf o t+ϕ o ) The A.C. electromotive force V 2 includes higher harmonic wave components, because the waveform thereof is of a distorted wave, as shown in Fig. 3. In this case, the A.C. magnetic field H includes no D.C. magnetic field component, as described above, and, therefore, the higher harmonic wave components of the A.C. electromotive force V 2 magnetic field H, in principle, consist of only odd harmonic wave components and include no even harmonic wave components. The higher harmonic wave components are dependent upon the instantaneous magnetization rate dI(H)/dH which is dependent upon the stress of the metal wire 4. Therefore, the higher harmonic wave components include stress information of the metal wire 4. Thereupon, the waveform of the A.C. electromotive force V 2 is subjected to frequency analysis using a spectral analyzer for division into a fundamental wave component and higher harmonic wave components to determine effective values Ev1 and Ev2 or a distortion factor K of one or more higher harmonic wave components as a measurement amount of the stress of the metal wire 4. For example, when the higher harmonic wave components are third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components, the effective value Ev1 thereof is represented by the following expression (6): Ev1 = √(E 3 2 +E 5 2 +E 7 2 +E 9 2 ) wherein E 3 , E 5 , E 7 and E 9 are effective values of the third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components, respectively. The calculation of the effective value Ev1 is carried out using a calculator. When a certain harmonic wave component sufficiently and correctly includes stress information of the metal wire, an effective value Ev2 of only such harmonic wave component thereof may be used as a stress measurement amount. In this case, such effective value Ev2 can be output by connecting a narrow-band filter corresponding to this harmonic wave component to the detecting coil 3. The distortion factor K is represented by the following expression (7): K = √(E 3 2 +E 5 2 +E 7 2 +E 9 2 )/E 1 wherein E 1 is an effective value of the fundamental wave component. The calculation of this distortion factor K is carried out using a calculator. On the other hand, the magnetic characteristic of the metal wire 4 is varied with a change in condition of the metal wire 4. Namely, if the tension load on the metal wire 4 is varied from a large value to a small value, the instantaneous magnetization rate dI(H)/dH of the metal wire 4 is varied from a large value to a small value, as line c → line b → line a in Fig. 2. As a result, V 2 (t) which is a periodic function is varied and hence the effective values of the higher harmonic wave components are also varied. Therefore, a minute variation in stress of the metal wire 4 can be correctly measured, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. [Example 1] An FRP member F shown in Fig. 6 is used for judging the presence or absence and degree of internal damage due to fatigue. The FRP member F capable of detecting the internal damage is of a plate-like shape and composed of an FRP member body Fa, a plurality of soft magnetic metal wires 4 as soft magnetic material elements embedded in the FRP member body Fa so as to form a single layer extending along one surface S 1 of the FRP member body Fa, and a plurality of soft magnetic metal wires 4 as soft magnetic material elements embedded in the FRP member body Fa so as to form a single layer extending along another surface S 2 of the FRP member body Fa. Each of the metal wires 4 is bound in a state in which an external force, e.g. a tension load in this example, has been applied thereto. The FRP member body Fa is formed from carbon fiber as reinforcing fiber and an epoxy resin as a plastics matrix. The soft magnetic metal wire is formed of an amorphous metal wire 4. The amorphous metal wires 4 at a side of each of the surfaces S 1 and S 2 are arranged parallel at given distances in the FRP member body Fa. The plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 arranged parallel at the given distances to form the single layer extending along the one surface S 1 and the plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 arranged parallel at the given distances to form the single layer extending along the other surface S 2 are arranged in a plane-symmetric relation to each other with respect to a phantom division plane S 3 which equally divides the thickness T of the FRP member body Fa into two portions. If the amorphous metal wires 4 are arranged into a layered configuration at the sides of the surfaces S 1 and S 2 of the FRP member body Fa, the FRP member F has the same sectional structure at the sides of the surface S 1 and S 2 and, therefore, warping of the FRP member F can be prevented. The FRP member F was fabricated in the following manner. As shown in Fig. 7, eight cloths 5 1 to 5 8 made of carbon fiber having a diameter of 6 µm were laminated, such that the orientations of the carbon fibers in the adjacent cloths 5 1 and 5 2 or the like were offset by 45° from each other. A plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 having a diameter of 120 µm were arranged parallel at a pitch of 0.3 mm between the first and second cloths 5 1 and 5 2 and between the seventh and eighth cloths 5 7 and 5 8 . The amorphous metal wire 4 has a composition of Fe 66.5 Si 8.5 B 12 Co 11 Cr 2 (wherein each numerical value is by atom %) and a coercive force Hc of 0.6 oersted. A laminated body 6 of the cloths 5 1 to 5 8 and the amorphous metal wires 4 was impregnated with an epoxy resin solution and subjected to heat treatment at 180°C for 2 hours to cure the epoxy resin, thereby producing an FRP member F including an FRP member body Fa having an epoxy resin matrix and the carbon fiber, and the plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 embedded in the FRP member body Fa to form a single layer in each of the surfaces S 1 and S 2 , as shown in Fig. 6. In this case, the amorphous metal wire 4 has a thermal expansion coefficient&of about 7 x 10 -6 /°C, and the FRP member body Fa has a thermal expansion coefficient of about 4 x 10 -6 /°C. Therefore, after the curing of the epoxy resin by heating, each of the amorphous metal wires 4 is bound in a state in which a tension load has been applied thereto. If the amorphous metal wire 4 is magnetized, a so-called magnetostriction phenomenon producing an elongation of the metal wire 4 is generated. However, the magnetostriction oscillation phenomenon under an A.C. magnetic field is suppressed by the carbon fiber and the cured epoxy resin. In this FRP member F, the volume fraction Vf of the carbon fiber was 58.3 %, the volume fraction Vf of the epoxy resin was 37.5 %, and the volume fraction Vf of the amorphous metal wires 4 was 4.2 %. Fig. 8 illustrates one example of a stress measuring device 8 1 . This device 8 1 is constructed in the following manner. A ferrite core 9 is formed into a U-shape from a pair of legs 9a and a connecting portion 9b which connects one end of both legs 9a to each other. The detecting coil 3 is wound 100 turns (10 turns/mm) around the connecting portion 9b, and the exciting coil 2 is wound 100 turns (10 turns/mm) around an outer periphery of the detecting coil 3. The exciting coil 2 is connected to the oscillator 1. The detecting coil 3 is connected to a spectral analyzer 10 which is connected to a calculator 11. Fig. 9 illustrate another example of the stress measuring device 8 2 . The stress measuring device 8 2 has a narrow-band filter 12 connected to the detecting coil 3, in place of the spectral analyzer 10 and the calculator 11 in the device 8 1 shown in Fig. 8. Other than this, the arrangement is the same as in the device 8 1 shown in Fig. 8. First, the FRP member F was subjected to a tension-tensile fatigue test to determine a relationship between the number of repetitions of a stress cycle and the Young's modulus, thereby providing a result shown by line d in Fig. 10. Conditions for this fatigue test are a minimum tension load of 3 kgf/mm 2 , a maximum tension load of 25 kgf/mm 2 , and a repetition frequency of 20 Hz. For the line d in Fig. 10, the FRP member F is not damaged and hence the Young's modulus thereof is not varied until the number of repetitions of the stress cycle reaches 10 3 . But when the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 10 3 , cracks are produced in an interior of the FRP member F, and an interfacial separation between the carbon fiber as well as the amorphous metal wires 4 and the epoxy resin matrix are produced, and hence the Young's modulus starts lowering. The lowering phenomenon of the Young's modulus is promoted substantially proportionally with an increase in the number of repetitions of the stress cycle, and when the number of repetitions of the stress cycle equals 5 x 10 6 , the FRP member F is broken. Next, the FRP member F was subjected to a similar fatigue test to measure the stress of the amorphous metal wire 4 at every predetermined number of repetitions of the stress cycle. In measuring the stress of the amorphous metal wire 4, end faces of both legs 9a of the core 9 were placed against the surface S 1 of the FRP member F, and the oscillator 1 was operated under oscillation conditions where a frequency of a sine wave including no D.C. magnetic field component was 1 kHz and a voltage between peaks, namely a voltage between peaks in one period, is 15 V p-p , thereby applying an A.C. magnetic field H exceeding a coercive force Hc of the amorphous metal wire 4 to the exciting coil 2. This caused a magnetic path to be formed between the core 9 and the amorphous metal wires 4, whereby an A.C. electromotive force V 2 was induced in the detecting coil 3. This A.C. electromotive force V 2 was applied to the spectral analyzer 10 and then an effective value Ev1 of third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components which were higher harmonic wave components, i.e. a value determined according to the above-described expression (6), i.e. Ev1 = √(E 3 2 +E 5 2 +E 7 2 +E 9 2 ), was output and determined as a measurement amount of the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4. A relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the effective value Ev1 was found as shown by a line e 1 in Fig. 10. In the line e 1 in Fig. 10, the effective value Ev1 is constant until the number of repetitions of the stress cycle reaches 10 3 . It can be seen from this that the FRP member F was not damaged. If the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 10 3 , the effective value Ev1 starts lowering. This is because cracks are produced within the FRP member F and hence the binding force on the amorphous metal wire 4 is reduced and, due to this, the stress of the amorphous metal wires is reduced, and the suppression of the magnetostriction oscillation phenomenon under the A.C. magnetic field is moderated. It can be seen from this that internal damage was produced in the FRP member F. When the number of repetitions of the stress cycle is further increased beyond 10 3 , the effective value Ev1 is lowered with a gradient substantially equivalent to that of a reduction in Young's modulus of the FRP member F. In other words, the effective value Ev1 precisely indicates the degree of internal damage of the FRP member F. Therefore, it is possible to correctly know the presence or absence and degree of internal damage of the FRP member F by measuring the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4 embedded in the FRP member F. A line e 2 in Fig. 10 illustrates a result obtained through the measuring of the stress using the stress measuring device 8 2 shown in Fig. 9, wherein an effective value of a third harmonic wave component Ev2 = E 3 was used as a measurement amount of the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4, because the third harmonic wave component sufficiently and correctly includes the stress information for the amorphous metal wires. Even in this case, it can be seen that this result is similar to that provided when the effective value Ev1 is used as the measurement amount of the stress. A line f in Fig. 10 illustrates a result obtained through the measuring of the stress using the stress measuring device 8 1 shown in Fig. 8, wherein a distortion factor K of higher harmonic wave components and thus third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components, i.e. a value determined according to the following expression (7), i.e. K = √(E 3 2 +E 5 2 +E 7 2 +E 9 2 )/E 1 was used as a measurement amount of the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4. Even in this case, a tendency is observed which is similar to that when the effective values Ev1 and Ev2 were used as measurement amounts of the stress. For the FRP member F including the amorphous metal wires 4, if the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 10 3 , the effective·value Ev1 in the numerator of expression (7), namely higher harmonic wave components, is decreased, and the effective value E 1 in the denominator of expression (7), namely fundamental wave components is increased, as shown in Fig. 11. For this reason, a reduction rate of the distortion factor K, when the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 10 3 , is larger than that of the effective value. Therefore, in measuring internal damage of the FRP member F of the above-described construction, a measurement of higher sensitivity can be performed by using the distortion factor K as a measurement amount. Fig. 12 illustrates a comparative example, wherein a line g 1 shows a result obtained when a voltage between peaks Vm1 - Vm2 shown in Fig. 3 was used as a measurement amount of the stress of amorphous metal wires 4, and a line g 2 shows a result obtained when an effective value Ev5 of the fifth harmonic wave component was used as a measurement amount of the stress of amorphous metal wires 4. With respect to the line g 1 , a variation around a turning point at about 10 3 times repetition of the stress cycle is unclear. With respect to the line g 2 , a turning point around about 10 3 times repetition is clear, but this line shows an irregular variation in that the effective value E 5 once decreased starts increasing from the number of repetitions of stress cycle of about 7.5 x 10 4 . Therefore, notwithstanding that the stresses of the amorphous metal wires 4 are different on opposite sides of the minimum effective value, the same effective value may be obtained in some cases. This makes it impossible to correctly find the degree of internal damage of the FRP member F, if the stress cycle is repeated, for example, more than about 3 x 10 4 . Fig. 13 illustrates another comparative example corresponding to the prior art example wherein a ratio E 3 /E 5 between the effective values E 3 and E 5 of the third and fifth harmonic wave components was used as a measurement value of the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4. Even in this case, notwithstanding that the stresses of the amorphous metal wires 4 are different on opposite sides of a peak value, the same ratio E 3 /E 5 is obtained and hence, a disadvantage similar to that described above occurs. Fig. 14 illustrates another example of an FRP member F whose internal damage can be detected. This FRP member F is of a plate-like shape and includes an FRP member body Fa, and a plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 embedded in the FRP member body Fa to form a single layer extending along one surface S 1 of the FRP member body Fa. Each of the amorphous metal wires 4 is bound in a state in which an external force, e.g. a tension load in this example as in the above-described example, has been applied thereto. The amorphous metal wires 4 are arranged parallel at given distances. In Figs. 6 and 14, the amorphous metal wires 4 may be embedded in the FRP member body Fa, such that a portion of an outer peripheral surface of each amorphous metal wire 4 is exposed from the surfaces S 1 and S 2 of the FRP member body Fa. [Example 2] An FRP member F was fabricated in the same manner as the FRP member F shown in Fig. 6, except that amorphous metal wires 4 having a diameter of 125 µm were used. This FRP member F is referred to as an example FRP member F. As a comparative example 1, as shown in Fig. 15, a plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 similar to those of the previous Example 1 were arranged parallel at a pitch of 0.6 mm between first and second cloths 5 1 and 5 2 , between third and fourth cloths 5 3 and 5 4 , between fifth and sixth cloths 5 5 and 5 6 , and between seventh and eighth cloths 5 7 and 5 8 respectively, thereby fabricating an FRP member in the same manner as in Example 1. In this FRP member, the plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 were embedded to form two layers in each of the surfaces S 1 and S 2 . As a comparative example 2, as shown in Fig. 16, a plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 were arranged parallel at a pitch of 0.9 mm between first and second cloths 5 1 and 5 2 , between second and third cloths 5 2 and 5 3 , between third and fourth cloths 5 3 and 5 4 , between fourth and fifth cloths 5 4 and 5 5 , between fifth and sixth cloths 5 5 and 5 6 , between sixth and seventh cloths 5 6 and S 7 and between seventh and eighth cloths 5 7 and 5 8 , respectively, thereby fabricating an FRP member in the same manner. In this FRP member, the plurality of amorphous metal wires 4 were embedded to form three layers in each of the surfaces S 1 and S 2 . First, the example FRP member F and the amorphous metal wires 4 of the comparative examples 1 and 2 were subjected to a stress measurement using the stress measuring device 8 1 shown in Fig. 8. In measuring the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4, end faces of legs 9a of core 9 were placed against the surface S 1 of the FRP member F, and the oscillator 1 was operated under oscillation conditions where a frequency of a sine wave including no D.C. magnetic field component was of 1 kHz and a voltage between peaks, namely a voltage between peaks in one period, was of 15 V p-p , thereby applying an A.C. magnetic field H exceeding a coercive force Hc of the amorphous metal wire 4 to the exciting coil 2. This caused a magnetic path to be generated between the core 9 and the amorphous metal wires 4, whereby an A.C. electromotive force V 2 was induced in the detecting coil 3. This A.C. electromotive force V 2 was input to the spectral analyzer 10 and then an effective value Ev1 of third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components which were higher harmonic wave components, i.e. a value determined according to the following expression (6), i.e. Ev1 = √(E 3 2 +E 5 2 +E 7 2 +E 9 2 ), was output and determined as a measurement amount of the stress of the amorphous metal wires 4. Then, the example FRP member F and the like were subjected to a tension-tensile fatigue test to measure stress of the amorphous metal wires 4 at every predetermined number of repetitions of the stress cycle. Conditions for this fatigue test were a minimum tensile strain of 800 x 10 -6 ; a maximum tensile strain of 8,000 x 10 -6 and a repetition frequency of 20 Hz. A relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the effective value Ev1 was examined to provide results shown by lines h 1 to h 3 in Fig. 17, wherein the line h 1 corresponds to the example FRP member F; the line h 2 corresponds to the comparative example 1, and the line h 3 corresponds to the comparative example 2. In the example FRP member F shown by the line h 1 in Fig. 17, the effective value Ev1 is constant until the number of repetitions of the stress cycle reaches 6 x 10 3 . It can be found from this that the FRP member F was not damaged. If the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 6 x 10 3 , the effective value Ev1 starts lowering. This is because hair cracks, an interfacial separation and/or the like are produced within the FRP member F and hence the binding force on the amorphous metal wire 4 is reduced and, due to this, the stress of the amorphous metal wires is reduced, and the suppression of the magnetostriction oscillation phenomenon under the A.C. magnetic field is moderated. In this case, because a lowering start point p of the effective value Ev1 is extremely distinct, it can be certainly determined that internal damage was produced in the FRP member F. In the comparative examples 1 and 2 shown by the lines h 2 and h 3 , the output when the FRP member was not damaged, is lower. As a result, the lowering start point p is located at position corresponding to 10 4 times repetitions of the stress cycle. But this point p is unclear, and sensitivity of detection of internal damage is remarkably low, as compared with the example FRP member. [Example 3] In Figs. 18 and 19, an adhesive layer forming adhesive member 20 whose internal defects can be detected is in the form of a rectangular and uniform-thickness film and includes a main body 21 formed of uncured adhesive, and a plurality of soft magnetic material elements 4 embedded within the main body 21. As the adhesive for forming the main body 21, a thermosetting synthetic resin adhesive may primarily by used. Examples of such thermosetting synthetic resin adhesive are a phenolic resin-based adhesive, an epoxy resin-based adhesive, a phenolic epoxy resin-based adhesive and the like, from a viewpoint that they are easily formed into a film. Further, a thermoplastic synthetic resin adhesive may be used. The soft magnetic material 4 is fibrous, and formed from an amorphous metal in this example. The plurality of soft magnetic material elements 4 are arranged at a given pitch m in parallel to a lengthwise direction k of the main body 21. The thickness n of the adhesive member 20 may suitably be in the range of 0.03 mmn ≤ n ≤ 1.0 mm, and the diameter p of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 may suitably be in the range of 30 µm ≤ p ≤ 200 µm. On this basis, the pitch m of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 with respect to the diameter p may be set in a range of 2p ≤ m ≤ 10p. If the pitch m is set in the above range, the amount of the main body 21 and thus the amount of the adhesive is appropriate and hence sufficient bonding strength can be obtained. In addition, the distribution state of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 is appropriate and hence the stress detecting sensitivity thereof becomes good. However, if m < 2p, the volume fraction Vf of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 in the adhesive layer is nearly equal to 40 % from the relationship to the thickness n. For this reason, bonding strength becomes insufficient, and during bonding, the fibrous soft magnetic material elements 4 are easily intertwined and hence it is difficult to uniformize the thickness of the adhesive layer. On the other hand, if m > 10p, the distribution state of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 is dispersed, which deteriorates stress-detecting sensitivity. Table 1 shows the dimensions and the like for an embodiment of the adhesive member 20. In Table 1, the volume fraction Vf of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 shows a value in the adhesive member 20. Dimension of the adhesive member 20 In Fig. 18, length q is 40 mm, width r is 25 mm, and thickness n is 0.5 mm Main Body 21 Material: Epoxy resin-based adhesive (made by 3M Corp. under a trade name of AF-191) Fibrous soft magnetic material 4 Material: Amorphous alloy of Fe 77.5 Si 7.5 Be 15 (each numerical value is atom %) Coercive force Hc: 0.4 oersted Thermal expansion coefficient: 7.3 x 10 -6 /°C Diameter p: 125 µm Pitch m: 0.3 mm (Vf = 8 %) As shown in Fig. 20, two plate-like FRP members F 1 and F 2 having the same structure and the same dimension were prepared as members to be bonded. In these FRP members F 1 and F 2 , a reinforcing fiber member is a laminate produced by laminating eight cloths made of carbon fiber having a diameter of 6 µm, so that the orientations of the carbon fibers in the adjacent cloths are offset by 45°. A matrix is formed of epoxy resin. Each of the FRP members F 1 and F 2 has a length u of 155 mm, a width v of 25 mm, a thickness w of 1.6 mm and a thermal expansion coefficient of 3.5 x 10 -6 /°C. In bonding both the FRP members F 1 and F 2 to each other, the entire adhesive member 20 was clamped between ends of the FRP members F 1 and F 2 with its lengthwise direction k matched with the lengthwise directions of the FRP members F 1 and F 2 . Then, the adhesive member 20 was cured at 180 °C for 1 hour at 3.2 atmospheres. This formed an adhesive layer B, whereby the FRP members F 1 and F 2 were bonded to each other through this adhesive layer B. At this time, a bonding margin was 10 cm 2 . In this case, because the thermal expansion coefficient of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 is 7.3 x 10 -6 /°C and the thermal expansion coefficient of the FRP members F 1 and F 2 is 3.5 x 10 -6 /°C, the fibrous soft magnetic materials 4 are bound in their tension load-applied state at ambient temperature after curing of the main body 21 by heating and thus after formation of the adhesive layer B. In measuring the stress, the stress measuring device 8 1 shown in Fig. 8 is used. However, the detecting coil 3 is wound 140 turns/15 mm around the connecting portion 9b, and the exciting coil 2 is wound 140 turns/15 mm around the outer periphery of the detecting coil 3. First, the fibrous soft magnetic materials 4 in the adhesive layer B were subjected to a stress measurement. In measuring the stress of the soft magnetic materials 4, as shown in Fig. 21, the end faces of the legs 9a of the core were placed against one surface of the FRP member F 1 , and the oscillator 1 was operated under oscillation conditions where a frequency of a sine wave including no D.C. magnetic field component was of 1 kHz and a voltage between peaks was of 30 V p-p , thereby applying an A.C. magnetic field H exceeding a coercive force Hc of the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 to the exciting coil 2. This caused a magnetic path to be generated between the core 9 and the soft magnetic material elements 4, whereby an A.C. electromotive force V 2 was induced in the detecting coil 3. This A.C. electromotive force V 2 was input to the spectral analyzer 10 and then a distortion factor K, i.e. a value determined according to the expression (7), i.e. K = √(E 3 2 +E 5 2 +E 7 2 +E 9 2 )/E 1 , was output by the calculator 11 and determined as a measurement amount of the stress of the fibrous soft magnetic material elements 4. If the soft magnetic material elements 4 are magnetized in the above-described manner, a so-called magnetostriction phenomenon producing an elongation in the soft magnetic material 4 is generated. But the magnetostriction oscillation phenomenon under an A.C. magnetic field is suppressed by the cured main body 21. Then, outer ends of the FRP members F 1 and F 2 were clamped by chucks, and a tension-tensile fatigue test was conducted for the adhesive layer B until it was broken. During that time, the stress of the fibrous soft magnetic material elements 4 was measured at every predetermined number of repetitions of the stress cycle. Conditions for this fatigue test were as follows: a distance between the chucks was 150 mm, a minimum tension load was 0.14 tons, a maximum tension load was 1.4 tons, and a repetition frequency of 20 Hz. A relationship between the number of repetitions of the stress cycle and the distortion factor K of higher harmonic wave components was found as shown in Fig. 22. The distortion factor K is lowered immediately after the start of the test because the main body 21 is plastically deformed. However, thereafter, the distortion factor K is constant, until the number of repetitions of the stress cycle reaches 2 x 10 3 , and it can be found from this that the adhesive layer B is not damaged. If the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 2 x 10 3 , the distortion factor K starts lowering. This is because damage was produced within the adhesive layer B and hence the binding force on the fibrous soft magnetic material 4 was reduced and, due to this, the stress of the soft magnetic material 4 was reduced, and the suppression of the magnetostriction oscillation phenomenon under the A.C. magnetic field was moderated. At the number of repetitions of the stress cycle of 5 x 10 3 , the section of the adhesive layer B was observed by a microscope and it was confirmed that cracks were produced. Fig. 23 illustrates another tension-tensile fatigue test example. A test piece used in this test example was produced by bonding any one of the FRP members (in this test, FRP member F 1 was used) to a steel plate (JIS S54C having a length u of 155 mm, a width v of 25 mm, a thickness w of 4 mm and a thermal expansion coefficient of 11.2 x 10 -6 /°C) using the above-described adhesive member 20 in the same manner as that described above. In this case, the fibrous soft magnetic material elements 4 are bound in to their tensile load-applied states due to the fact that the thermal expansion coefficient of the steel plate is larger than that of the FRP member F 1 . Conditions for this test were the same as those for the above-described test, except that the minimum tensile load was set at 0.06 tons and the maximum tensile load was set at 0.55 tons. In order to enhance the sensitivity, the core 9 of the stress measuring device 8 1 was disposed on the side of the FRP member F 1 . In Fig. 23, the distortion factor K is slightly increased because the main body 21 is plastically deformed immediately after the start of the test. However, the distortion factor K thereafter becomes constant until the number of repetitions of the stress cycle reaches 6 x 10 3 , and it can be found from this that the adhesive layer B is not damaged. Then, when the number of repetitions of the stress cycle exceeds 6 x 10 3 , the distortion factor K starts increasing. This is because the interior of the adhesive layer was damaged, thereby lowering the binding force on the fibrous soft magnetic material elements 4 and, due to this, the stress of the soft magnetic material elements 4 was lowered, and the suppression of the magnetostriction oscillation phenomenon under the A.C. magnetic field was moderated. At the number of repetitions of stress cycle of 10 4 , the section of the adhesive layer B was observed and it was confirmed that cracks were produced between the fibrous soft magnetic material elements 4 and the cured main body 21. A glass fiber may be contained in the adhesive member 20 in order to reinforce the latter. The adhesive members may be formed from metal, or another material such as wood, ceramics and the like. The stress measurement amount of the soft magnetic material is not limited to the distortion factor K or an effective value of one or more higher harmonic wave components, and a peak value in a waveform of A.C. electromotive force could also be used as the stress measurement amount of the soft magnetic material. A voltage between peaks, a crest value or the like may also be used as the stress measurement amount.

Claims: A fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) member (F) whose internal damage is detectable by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a soft magnetic material, characterized in that said FRP member comprises a FRP member body (Fa) and soft magnetic material (4) embedded therein, said material being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realised because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state. The FRP member of claim 1, wherein said embedded magnetic material is in the form of a plurality of soft magnetic material elements (4) embedded so as to form a single layer extending along a surface of said FRP member body (Fa). The FRP member of claim 1 or 2, wherein said soft magnetic material is in the form of amorphous metal wires (4) arranged in parallel at given distances apart within the FRP member body (Fa). The FRP member of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said FRP member body (Fa) is of a plate-like shape, and has embedded therein a first group of magnetic material elements (4) forming a single layer extending along one surface (S 1 ) of the FRP member body (Fa), and a second group of said elements (4) forming a single layer extending along another surface (S 2 ) of the FRP member body (Fa), these two groups being disposed within said FRP member body (Fa) in a plane-symmetric relation to each other with respect to a phantom division plane (S 3 ) which equally divides the thickness of said FRP member body (Fa) into two portions. An adhesive member (20) whose internal defects may be detected by utilizing a magneto-mechanical property of a soft magnetic material (4), characterized in that said adhesive member (20) comprises a main body (21) formed of uncured adhesive having said soft magnetic material (4) embedded therein, said soft magnetic material (4) being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realised because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state. The member of claim 5, wherein said magnetic material is in the form of a plurality of magnetic material elements (4). The member of claim 6, wherein said soft magnetic material elements (4) are fibrous, said elements (4) being arranged in parallel at given distances apart within said main body (21). The member of claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein said soft magnetic material (4) comprises amorphous metal. A process for measuring the stress of a fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) member (F) or adhesive member (20), characterized by the steps of: embedding soft magnetic material (4) into the body (Fa) of a FRP member (F) or into the adhesive body (21) of an uncured adhesive member (20), said material (4) being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realised because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state; applying to the magnetic material (4) an A.C. magnetic field exceeding a coercive force of the magnetic material (4) by use of an exciting coil (2) so as to induce an A.C. electromotive force in a detecting coil (3) through the magnetic material (4); and determining, as a measurement amount, an effective value of one or more higher harmonic wave components including stress information of the magnetic material (4) in the waveform of the A.C. electromotive force. The process of claim 9, wherein said effective value is output through a spectral analyzer (10) connected to said detecting coil (3) and a calculator (11) connected to said spectral analyzer (10). The process of claim 9 or 10, wherein said effective value is a sum of effective values of third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components. The process of claim 9, wherein said effective value is an effective value of a third harmonic wave component. The process of claim 12, wherein said effective value of said third harmonic wave component is output through a narrow-band filter (12) connected to said detecting coil (3). The process of any of claims 9 to 13, wherein the harmonic component(s) is/are selected so as to provide an effective value which changes monotonically with stress. A process for measuring the stress of a fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) member (F) or adhesive member (20), characterized by the steps of: embedding soft magnetic material (4) into the body (Fa) of an FRP member (F) or into the adhesive body (21) of an uncured adhesive member (20), said material (4) being bound in a state in which an external force is applied thereto, which external force may be realised because of a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the FRP member body and the soft magnetic material upon curing of the plastics matrix by heating or by embedding the soft magnetic material in the plastic matrix in a tension-applied state; applying to the magnetic material (4) an A.C. magnetic field exceeding a coercive force of the magnetic material by use of an exciting coil (2) so as to induce an A.C. electromotive force in a detecting coil (3) through the magnetic material (4); and determining, as a measurement amount, a distortion factor of one or more higher harmonic wave components including stress information of the magnetic material (4) in the waveform of the A.C. electromotive force. The process of claim 15, wherein said distortion factor is output through a spectral analyzer (10) connected to said detecting coil (3) and a calculator (11) connected to said spectral analyzer. The process of claim 15 or 16, wherein said distortion factor is determined on the basis of an effective value of a fundamental wave component and effective values of third, fifth, seventh and ninth harmonic wave components.

Inventors: GOTO HAJIME, KUBOTA TADAHIRO, SASAHARA JUN, GOTO, HAJIME, KUBOTA, TADAHIRO, SASAHARA, JUN
Applicants: HONDA MOTOR CO LTD, HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1995
Main classification: G01L1
IPC codes: G01N27, G01L1