Thermographic Inspection of Aerospace Tankage
Thermography has been shown to be the ideal technical and economic inspection method for two applications - post-machining evaluations and for field inspections of damage and repair. For most manufacturing applications ultrasonic inspections are already available and established. There is no question about the detectability or cost when inspecting hardware out of the autoclave. But when the part is too large to bring to the scanning inspection system or you do not want to remove the hardware from its current setup then a more portable or field applicable inspection is required. This paper will describe two applications of thermography on composite inspections. The NASA NDE Team and Lockheed Martin conducted the work at NASA s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The first application was inspecting machined hardware. The technique and example data will be presented along with the advantages of thermography. Examples of drilling holes and trimming the edges will be discussed. The second application will be the evaluation of damage in a composite part and the subsequent repair of the region will be presented. The technique, data, and benefits of this application will also be presented along with the follow-up inspection of the post- repaired hardware.