Journal article
Nanoscale Ex Situ Thermal Impulse Sensors for Structural Fire Forensics
Applied spectroscopy, Vol.72(9), pp.1310-1321
09/01/2018
PMID: 29082759
Abstract
We developed nanoscale ex situ thermal impulse (i.e., the temperature and duration of a heating event) sensors for structural fire forensics using a mixture of two lanthanide-doped oxide precursors (precursor Eu:ZrO2 and precursor Dy:Y2O3) that undergo irreversible phase changes when heated. These changes are probed using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy with the PL spectra being dependent on the thermal impulse (TI) experienced by the sensors. By correlating the PL spectra to different in-lab TIs, we are able to produce a spectroscopic calibration for our sensors. This calibration allows us to determine an unknown TI of a heating event using only the PL spectrum of the heated TI sensors. In this study, we report on the calibration of these sensors for isothermal heating durations up to 600s and isothermal temperatures up to 1273K. Using this calibration, we also demonstrate their ability to determine an unknown TI and demonstrate their functionality when dispersed into paint, which is heated in the presence of drywall.
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Details
- Title
- Nanoscale Ex Situ Thermal Impulse Sensors for Structural Fire Forensics
- Creators
- Benjamin R. Anderson - Washington State University SpokaneNatalie Gese - Washington State UniversityRay Gunawidjaja - Washington State UniversityHergen Eilers - Washington State University
- Publication Details
- Applied spectroscopy, Vol.72(9), pp.1310-1321
- Academic Unit
- Institute for Shock Physics
- Publisher
- Sage
- Number of pages
- 12
- Grant note
- 2015-DN-BX-K073 / National Institute of Justice
- Identifiers
- 99900876938601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article