Development of thermoplastic coated multifunctional transmission elements

We report on key challenges of the development of steel cords reinforced thermoplastic elastomer composites with smart functionalities: adhesion tailoring for a durable mechanical load transfer through steel cords or other transmission elements by the use of surface treatments and primers, and integrated distributed temperature and strain sensing by the use of embedded fiber optic sensors. Traditional surface treatments including silane coupling agent were outperformed in processing time, adhesion and durability by a fast-curing coupling method using a UV-curable primer; and the integrated distributed temperature and strain sensing capability was demonstrated. The practical applications of the resulting multifunctional transmission element are then discussed in light of these results.