Development of realistic flaw standards for thermographic inspection qualification of composite structures
- Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL (United States)
Infrared thermographic nondestructive evaluation provides a method for identifying delamination and disbond type defects in advanced composite structures. The thermographic inspection process often involves the concurrent evaluation of a defect calibration standard to ensure that all critically sized flaws will be detected. The calibration standard is constructed in a similar manner as the component to be evaluated, except that artificial flaws are built into the laminate at predetermined locations. These artificial flaws, unbonded regions for this work, are often formed by inserting foreign material such as Teflon tape or bagging film into the laminate as it is fabricated. This method is appropriate if the component has tape or film insert flaws as a result of some manufacturing error, but if not, the question arises; Can thermography find real defects or damage? Several alternative fabrication methods are compared and contrasted for developing in a controlled fashion, defects that could be found in actual structures resulting from mishandling or manufacturing errors. Both monolithic and honeycomb graphite/epoxy panels are constructed with built in voids to simulated various degrees of disbond and delamination type flaws.
- OSTI ID:
- 550050
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9610109-; ISBN 1-57117-053-7; TRN: IM9753%%125
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1996 Fall conference and quality testing show. NDT - new horizons on the Pacific, Seattle, WA (United States), 14-18 Oct 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of ASNT 1996 fall conference and quality testing show: Paper summaries; PB: 246 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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