Results obtained during acoustic emission monitoring of proof testing of a large Kevlar/epoxy rocket motor case

Conference · Wed Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6223300

Hamstad, M A

A total of 15 acoustic emission (AE) sensors were used to monitor a large Kevlar 49/epoxy rocket motor case during proof cycles to successively higher levels. Fourteen of the sensors were placed on the composite surface and one sensor was coupled to a stainless steel waveguide which penetrated the full length of the inside of the hydraulically pressurized motor case. To reduce signal propagation losses, the bandpass was chosen to be 5 to 10 kHz. In addition to an Acoustic Emission Technology (AET) 5000 system, Hewlett Packard 3400 A root-mean-square voltmeters, and a 1010 Biomation transient recorder were used to record AE data. The AET system measured rise time, event duration, peak amplitude, and energy (calculated from event duration and peak amplitude) for each AE event. The main purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the AE data obtained by hand post-processing of event listings generated for each proof cycle of the AE data taped by the 5000 system during the test. Real AE signal propagation losses are compared to the losses from Pentel pencil-lead breaks. We present first-hit sensor data for events with high amplitude, energy, and event duration. This data indicated that a certain area of the composite case is the potential region of failure.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6223300
• Report Number(s): UCRL-88272; CONF-830755-1; ON: DE83011275
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420500* -- Engineering-- Materials Testing
ACOUSTIC EMISSION TESTING
ACOUSTIC TESTING
ARAMIDS
ENGINES
EPOXIDES
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PLASTICS
PULSE RISE TIME
ROCKET ENGINES
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
TESTING
TIMING PROPERTIES
WAVEGUIDES