In this paper, a novel differential reflective intensity optical fiber angular displacement sensor was proposed. This sensor can directly measure the angular and axial linear displacement of a flat surface. The structure of the sensor probe is simple and its basic principle was first analyzed according to the intensity modulation mechanisms. Secondly, in order to trim the dark output voltage to zero, the photoelectric conversion circuit was developed to adjust the signals. Then, the sensor model including the photoelectric conversion circuit has been established, and the influence of design parameters on the sensor output characteristic has been simulated. Finally, the design parameters of the sensor structure were obtained based on the simulation results; and an experimental test system was built for the sensor calibration. Experimental results show that the linear angular range and the sensitivity of the sensor were 74.4 and 0.051 V/°, respectively. Its change rules confirm the operating principle of the sensor well.

The benefits of reducing the tip clearance have been receiving many scholars’ attention all the time, which bring turbine efficiency increasing, emissions reduction, payloads increasing, and mission range abilities extension. In order to gain the blade tip clearance dynamically, a prototype optical fiber measurement system was built and tested based on the rotor test rig. The optical fiber tip clearance measurement system consists of the reflective intensity-modulated optical fiber bundle (sensor), main signal processing unit, high-speed data acquisition card, and a computer. The static performance and dynamic performance experiments were conducted to verify the performance of the system we designed. In addition, the results show that the accuracy of the system is 25 μm or better; the stability of the measurement system was evaluated in room temperature. The clearance measurement range is about 5 mm, and sensitivity of the sensor is 0.0733/mm. Furthermore, the typical tip clearance dynamic measurement experiment results show that the system has good dynamic response characteristics as well. The system will provide a new tool for engine health monitoring or fast active tip clearance control.

TiB-whisker-reinforced TiBw/TC4 composites are widely used in aviation, aerospace, automotive, and various other industries. However, the drilling force and temperature have a large effect on the drilling micromechanical properties of TiBw/TC4 composites. In order to explore the micro-mechanical properties and promote the optimization of drilling process, the representative volume elements of TiB_W/TC4 composites were established in the Digimat-FE software tool to determine the micromechanical properties and failure mechanism of TiBW/TC4 composites. The results show: (1) maximum stress occurs at the whiskers, whereas the minimum stress appears within the basket matrix region of the reinforced phase. (2) When the force reached 300 N and the temperature reached 75 °C, the junction between the whiskers and the matrix firstly failed; when the force reached 525 N and the temperature reached 112 °C, the matrix began to fail; when the force reached 675 N and the temperature reached 138 °C, the whiskers failed. (3) The main reason for the failure of the junction between the matrix and the whiskers was that the shear stress exceeded the connection strength and the axial stress accelerated the failure process. Displacement and rotation of the whiskers were shown to occur at the moment of junction failure, owing to differences in the stress experienced on different sides of the material.