Application of a microprocessor for acquisition of load,strain and acoustic-emission data

This paper describes an automatic system for acquisition, logging and analysis of stress, strain and acoustic-emission data. The complete system is a combination of several standard items of equipment and a newly developed intelligent data logger which has the capability to send data directly to a large-scale computer for reduction and plotting. The data logging and all interfacing with peripheral equipment are accomplished using digital electronics. The heart of the system is a four-bit microprocessor and digital cassette-tape unit. The system, which is controlled by instructions from a cathode-ray-tube terminal, has the capability to transmit data from the cassette unit to a large computer via a time-sharing aption. Typical results are presented for acoustic-emission count rate and total-count curves superimposed on stress-strain diagrams for boron/epoxy advanced composites.