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Real-time monitoring of lightweight composite components by embedding additional sensors in the structure of composites becomes more and more popular in nowadays aerospace and automotive industry. However, polymer composites due to their low thermal stability are incapable of working at higher temperatures. Therefore the development of multifunctional metal matrix composites (MMC) with embedded fibre optic sensors for real-time health monitoring is indispensable. In this paper the preselection of optical fibres that can be suitable for embedding as fibre optic sensors has been done. The preliminary investigation at commonly used fibre optic sensors has shown the compulsion to design new appropriate optical fibres. Embedding of optical fibre as an integral part of carbon fibre reinforced magnesium-based MMC has been done via advanced Gas Pressure Infiltration (GPI). The analysis of thermal behaviour and optimization of desizing process has been a priori to optimize adhesive coating. This paper concerns problems related to the embedding of optical fibres into metal matrix composites. The quality analysis of infiltrated optical fibres has been done by the help of computed tomography and microscopic analysis. It has been shown that for further application of fibre optic sensors characterised by sufficient optical properties and adequate functionality the designation of favourable protective and adhesive coating is necessary.
Keywords: Metal matrix composites, optical fibres, lightweight alloys, sol-gel coating, gas pressure infiltration© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.