Ultrasonic Testing of Composites - From laboratory Research to In-field Inspections

Kurzfassung

Composites are attractive materials for lightweight structures. In order to inspect these components with ultrasonic imaging techniques optimizations of pulse parameters have been carried out. The know how of the laboratory inspections was successfully employed to field inspections of a specially prepared tail unit of the EH 101. The loss of time for manual scanning is relatively high so that the MUSE-system (Mobile UltraSonic Equipment) based on PC-boards with a motor-driven manipulator for automatic scanning was developed. The water circulation system provides local immersion technique. The non-contact ultrasonic technique with air coupling was investigated using a new system called AirTech 4000. This system is based on PC-boards. The AirTech 4000 delivers for sandwich components much higher resolution than inspections with water coupling. Using Lamb waves a testing from one side is possible