Smart paint to revolutionise structural monitoring?

The environmentally friendly paint uses nanotechnology to detect movement in large structures, and could shape the future of safety monitoring. While traditional methods of assessing large structures are often complex, time consuming and use expensive instrumentation, the researchers' smart paint is said to more cost effective and can be simply sprayed onto any surface, with electrodes attached to detect structural damage long before failure occurs. Dr Mohamed Saafi, of the University's Department of Civil Engineering, said: "The development of this smart paint technology could have far reaching implications for the way we monitor the safety of large structures all over the world. "There are no limitations as to where it could be used and the low cost nature gives it a significant advantage over the current options available in the industry. The process of producing and applying the paint also gives it an advantage as no expertise is required and monitoring itself is straightforward." The paint is made up of a recycled waste product known as fly ash and highly aligned carbon nanotubes. When mixed it has a cement-like property which makes it particularly useful in harsh environments. Dr Saafi explained: "The process of monitoring involves in effect a wireless sensor network. The paint is interfaced with wireless communication nodes with power harvesting and warning capability to remotely detect any unseen damage such as micro-cracks in a wind turbine concrete foundation." With fly ash being the main material used to make the paint, Saafi says the it costs just 1% of the alternative widely used inspection methods. A prototype has so far been developed, which the researchers say proved very effective in testing. It is hoped further tests will be carried out in the next few months. Saafi concluded: "The smart paint represents a significant development and is one that has possibly been overlooked as a viable solution because research tends to focus on high-tech options that look to eliminate human control. Our research shows that by maintaining the human element the costs can be vastly reduced without an impact on effectiveness."