NSF Award
9961245
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will design, fabricate, and test novel, high-temperature pressure-sensing elements composed of shape memory alloys. Ever-increasing demands on material systems under conditions of high temperatures and harsh environments create needs for high performance, low cost, reliable pressure transducers. The sensing element will be suitable for a wide range of environments along with an ability to provide greater sensitivity than silicon carbide sensors. Phase I will evaluate several candidate shape memory alloy materials and design a packaging scheme to maximize the sensitivity of this novel transducer. Emphasis will be placed on exploiting property changes during phase transformations.<br/><br/>A high temperature pressure transducer is expected to have large impact in the automotive industry as an in-cylinder pressure sensor. Furthermore, other industries such as geothermal drilling, industrial applications, and aircraft turbine engines will benefit from in-situ, high sensitivity pressure measurements. The high-temperature pressure transducer would provide more than a three-fold increase in the maximum operating temperature and an order-of- magnitude increase in sensitivity over traditional pressure transducers.
