Vibration response - A non-destructive test for fatigue crack damage in filament-reinforced composites
Vibration response NDT for fatigue crack damage in laminated filament-reinforced epoxy composites
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Vibration response NDT for fatigue crack damage in laminated filament-reinforced epoxy composites
In June, 1988, the first International Conference on aging aircraft was held to address nondestructive tests (NDT) of aging aircraft and other issues. From this meeting, a research program was initiated and funded by the FAA. As a result of this program, a lot of work has been done to study current NDT practices in the aviation industry and secondly, to research and develop new NDT methods to improve the reliability and efficiency of in-service inspection of aircraft structures and powerplants. The following is an overview of the current and future developments in civil aircraft NDT, as viewed by an air carrier and the concerns for NDT in the future.
Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are absolutely critical to the efficient and safe operation of gas turbine engines (GTEs). Manufacturing TBCs is a complex chemical, thermal and mechanical process that requires precise control. And yet, the variation in life of a TBC operated within a GTE is large. This variation ultimately reduces operational performance via a designed reduction to the turbine entry temperature, T4.This paper makes the case for developing advanced THz and sub-millimeter based nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques, capable of estimating when TBC components will fail. Such a technique could identify TBCs with low expected remaining useful lifetimes, directly after production. These TBCs could be re-manufactured, thereby not only improving their own expected useful life, but also the mean lifetime of the entire manufacturing population. A series of calculations demonstrates that TBCs with enhanced life characteristics can withstand higher T4 temperatures. Assuming that a GTE is to operate at a constant thrust, this increased temperature can be traded for a reduction in fuel flow. An analysis comparing fuel savings to manufacturing costs shows that substantial savings are achievable.
The design of flight vessels is based on a nominal stress requirement and a fracture mechanics approach, and optimization of the weight of the vessel is based on the smallest size defect that can be detected with a high degree of confidence. The wide variety of metals used for fabrication, and the different defects that may be present in them at every stage, up to completion of the vessel, is described. Techniques currently being used for NDT are described along with their advantages, limitations and limits of detectability at high levels of confidence. Techniques considered for use in the future to improve the limits of the minimum flaw size that can currently be detected include the Delta Scan and Acoustic Emission techniques. The construction of space vessels for use in the future has been modified to reduce the presence of critical defects and so to improve the cost effectiveness of projected NDT requirements.
This exploratory project, entitled “Non-Destructive In-process Assessment of Thermal Spray Repairs,” evaluated the capabilities and limitations of four non-destructive testing (NDE) technologies for detection of defects in as-sprayed thermal spray coatings: acousto-ultrasonics, vibro-thermography, thermal wave infrared (IR) imaging, and flash IR thermography. The project goal was to identify a single technology suitable for use as an in-process inspection for two common classes of defects in thermal spray coatings, porosity and disbonds. Two rounds of test coupons were fabricated with intentionally seeded defects in AISI 420 stainless steel coatings deposited by twin wire arc (TWA) spray onto gray cast iron substrates. These standardized test coupons allowed the sensitivity of the four NDE methods to be directly compared. The results indicated that the acousto-ultrasonic method will not meet requirements for accuracy, inspection time, and reproducibility, while the vibrothermography method will not meet requirements for integration within remanufacturing cells and process flows. The IR methods, thermal wave imaging and flash thermography, both exhibited acceptable accuracy and reproducibility; however, the former method does not meet the requirement for inspection time. Flash IR thermography met all requirements in the initial round of testing, and that result was confirmed in a second round of testing on samples with a larger, more complex geometry. A final recommendation for further development of flash IR thermography was therefore made based upon i) detection performance, and ii) feasibility of deployment into the target application of resurfacing CAT engine blocks and headers.