Images of Research: Progress through partnership

Smart skin: protect and detect

Category: Transformative technology

A very thin strand of a novel material in front of a large red light

This strip of material, made from ply glass and carbon fibre strands 100 times finer than human hair, could revolutionise the engineering industry. We are developing this novel hybrid material, which is anti-corrosive and highly conductive, as a potential ‘smart skin’ for engineering structures. Applied to components and able to ‘sense’ faults deep within their structure, it could make maintenance much safer, quicker and more efficient.

Entrant: Sheik Abdul Malik , Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering

Copyright: Sheik Abdul Malik

Collaborators: Advanced Materials Research Laboratory; Michael Debernardo Studio