A material that changes its color in response to strain might sound like science fiction or fantasy, but this is the very real outcome of research carried out at the
Experimental Soft Matter Physics group at the University of Luxembourg. The REVEAL project served to explore which societally and industrially relevant problems could be addressed using this new mechanochromic material, and to explore its commercial potential. We can make the REVEAL material in two form factors: flat coatings (or sheets) and cylindrical fibers. For each of these we have identified different key market areas.
Our key focus for REVEAL coatings is in Structural Health Monitoring, where we apply our material on a structure in which crack detection is of large importance, for instance in concrete bridges or other elements of the built environment, as well as in metal elements in mobile vehicles like airplanes, trains, cars and ships. Because the coating changes its color in response to strain regardless of where and in which direction this strain happens, and because the color change is continuous across the visible spectrum, proportional to the amount of strain, the REVEAL coating provides a fully continuous two-dimensional (2D) quantitative strain sensor that detects a crack wherever it appears, immediately when it appears. As we recently demonstrated in a
lab study on multiple construction materials including reinforced concrete (please click the link; the paper is free to read for anyone), color change reveals the crack well before it would be visible to the eye on its own, it shows how the crack propagates and if it bifurcates, and the continuous color variation ensures that the seriousness of the crack can be assessed from the color.
With REVEAL fibers we can monitor strain in threads, wires and ropes, clearly visualizing how it varies along the fiber, for instance
during knot tightening. There are countless ways of applying this to solve serious problems, and since the fibers can be sewn or knitted and are machine washable, amazing opportunities open in fashion as well. We are currently very active in upscaling the fabrication of the fibers and to make them biocompatible, to meet key demands in our currently targeted application areas.
