Non-destructive erosive wear monitoring of multi-layer coatings using AI-enabled differential split ring resonator based system

Real-time monitoring of coatings erosive wear is critical to mitigate safety and financial concerns in many applications. Here, authors show a non-destructive inspection system with AI-enabled microwave resonators and a smart monitoring circuitry to identify and estimate wear depth and rate of eroded layers. Unprotected surfaces where a coating has been removed due to erosive wear can catastrophically fail from corrosion, mechanical impingement, or chemical degradation, leading to major safety hazards, financial losses, and even fatalities. As a preventive measure, industries including aviation, marine and renewable energy are actively seeking solutions for the real-time and autonomous monitoring of coating health. This work presents a real-time, non-destructive inspection system for the erosive wear detection of coatings, by leveraging artificial intelligence enabled microwave differential split ring resonator sensors, integrated to a smart, embedded monitoring circuitry. The differential microwave system detects the erosion of coatings through the variations of resonant characteristics of the split ring resonators, located underneath the coating layer while compensating for the external noises. The system's response and performance are validated through erosive wear tests on single- and multi-layer polymeric coatings up to a thickness of 2.5 mm. The system is capable of distinguishing which layer is being eroded (for multi-layer coatings) and estimating the wear depth and rate through its integration with a recurrent neural network-based predictive analytics model. The synergistic combination of artificial intelligence enabled microwave resonators and a smart monitoring system further demonstrates its practicality for real-world coating erosion applications.

Automated summary

This article introduces a non-destructive inspection system that utilizes AI-enabled microwave resonators and smart monitoring circuitry to real-time monitor the erosive wear of coatings. The system detects the erosion of coatings by measuring the variations of resonant characteristics of the split ring resonators and is capable of distinguishing which layer is being eroded in multi-layer coatings. It can also estimate the wear depth and rate. The combination of AI-enabled microwave resonators and a smart monitoring system demonstrates its practicality for real-world coating erosion applications.