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Winfree, William P.

Publications and source records attributed to Winfree, William P..

82 records · Page 5

Quantitative thermal diffusivity imaging of disbonds in thermal protective coatings using inductive heating

An inductive heating technique for making thermal diffusivity images of disbonds between thermal protective coatings and their substrates is presented. Any flaw in the bonding of the coating and the substrate shows as an area of lowered values in the diffusivity image. The benefits of the inductive heating approach lie in its ability to heat the conductive substrate without directly heating the dielectric coating. Results are provided for a series of samples with fabricated disbonds, for a range of coating thicknesses.

Heath, D. M.↗

Thermal diffusivity measurements on composite porosity samples

A phase lag technique is used to make quantitative measurements of diffusivity in composite porosity samples. Changes in through-ply diffusivity in a graphite composite due to varying porosity levels are examined. The relationship between the amount of porosity and the change in diffusivity is analyzed using an electrical analog for modeling heat flow in the composite.

Zalameda, Joseph N.↗

Low-Dielectric Polyimides

New process developed to produce aromatic condensation polyimide films and coatings having dielectric constants in range of 2.4 to 3.2. Materials better electrical insulators than state-of-the-art commercial polyimides. Several low-dielectric-constant polyimides have excellent resistance to moisture. Useful as film and coating materials for both industrial and aerospace applications where high electrical insulation, resistance to moisture, mechanical strength, and thermal stability required. Applicable to production of high-temperature and moisture-resistance adhesives, films, photoresists, and coatings. Electronic applications include printed-circuit boards, both of composite and flexible-film types and potential use in automotive, aerospace, and electronic industries.

St. Clair, Anne K.↗

Quantitative NDE applied to composites and metals

Research at the NASA/Langley Research Center concerning quantitative NDE of composites and metals is reviewed. The relationship between ultrasonics and polymer cure is outlined. NDE models are presented, which can be used to develop measurement technologies for characterizing the curing of a polymer system for composite materials. The models can be used to determine the glass transition temperature, the degree of cure, and the cure rate. The application of the model to control autoclave processing of composite materials is noted. Consideration is given to the use of thermal diffusion models combined with controlled thermal input measurements to determine the thermal diffusivity of materials. Also, a two-dimensional physical model is described that permits delaminations in samples of Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors to be detected in thermograms in the presence of cooling effects and uneven heating.

Heyman, Joseph S.↗

Thermographic detection of disbonds

The presence of disbonds significantly decreases the integrity of many laminated structures used in aerospace applications. A thermographic technique is presented which is able to detect subsurface delamination. The technique uses one of several heat sources (such as hot water, hot air, IR lamps, etc.) to increase the surface temperature of the structure. The subsequent temperature profiles of the surface are detected with an IR camera. A novel spatial filter developed at NASA-Langley eliminates the effects of uneven heating to give clear images of the subsurface delaminations. Defects are detectable in samples as diverse as solid rocket motor samples and laminated wood for wind tunnel blades. Numerical simulations are presented for comparison with experiment results.

Winfree, William P.↗

Thermal Remote Anemometer Device

Thermal Remote Anemometer Device developed for remote, noncontacting, passive measurement of thermal properties of sample. Model heated locally by scanning laser beam and cooled by wind in tunnel. Thermal image of model analyzed to deduce pattern of airflow around model. For materials applications, system used for evaluation of thin films and determination of thermal diffusivity and adhesive-layer contact. For medical applications, measures perfusion through skin to characterize blood flow and used to determine viabilities of grafts and to characterize tissues.

Heyman, Joseph S.↗

Detection of bondline delaminations in multilayer structures with lossy components

The detection of bondline delaminations in multilayer structures using ultrasonic reflection techniques is a generic problem in adhesively bonded composite structures such as the Space Shuttles's Solid Rocket Motors (SRM). Standard pulse echo ultrasonic techniques do not perform well for a composite resonator composed of a resonant layer combined with attenuating layers. Excessive ringing in the resonant layer tends to mask internal echoes emanating from the attenuating layers. The SRM is made up of a resonant steel layer backed by layers of adhesive, rubber, liner and fuel, which are ultrasonically attenuating. The structure's response is modeled as a lossy ultrasonic transmission line. The model predicts that the acoustic response of the system is sensitive to delaminations at the interior bondlines in a few narrow frequency bands. These predictions are verified by measurements on a fabricated system. Successful imaging of internal delaminations is sensitive to proper selection of the interrogating frequency. Images of fabricated bondline delaminations are presented based on these studies.

Madaras, Eric I.↗

Remote measurement of in-plane diffusivity components in plates

A method of determining thermal diffusivity in thin plates is presented. The method, using infrared images of evolving thermal patterns previously injected with a laser, is noncontacting, one-sided, and remote. It does not require independent estimates of either the emissivity of the sample or the sample thickness. With a line-segment pattern for thermal input, it yields the inplane components of the diffusivity tensor in anisotropic materials and also the rate of heat loss to the environment of the plate. Two methods of data analysis are presented, one corresponding to a heating line of general cross section and the other considering a Gaussian cross section, thereby saving considerable computer time. Both methods produce a statistical evaluation of measurement quality as well as estimates of diffusivity and loss rate. Results are shown for plates of metals and graphite-epoxy composite materials. Principal components and orientation for the diffusivity tensor are obtained in the anisotropic graphite-epoxy sample.

Welch, Christopher S.↗

Remote noncontacting measurements of heat transfer coefficients for detection of boundary layer transition in wind tunnel tests

An infrared measurement system is used that consists of a laser heating source, an infrared camera for data acquisition, and a video recorder for data storage. A laser beam is scanned over an airfoil, heating its surface to a few degrees above ambient. An infrared camera then measures the temperature of the airfoil over a two-dimensional field, and these temperatures are stored as a function of time on a video recorder. The resulting temperature pictures are digitized and an iterative approximation algorithm is used to extract the heat transfer coefficient. The resulting values are normalized to the natural convection condition. The technique has been applied in low-speed wind tunnel tests and compared to well-established hot-film measurements which were made simultaneously to confirm the flow conditions. Heat transfer coefficients were determined using a linear scanning pattern, to indicate the position of natural and of artificially induced transition on an airfoil, at various wind speeds. The technique is shown to be sensitive to transition at low Mach numbers. The advantages of the technique are discussed.

Heath, D. Michele↗