Non-destructive characterization of transparent armor

DOD seeks an apparatus to characterize transparent armor non-destructively by determining the material and thickness of each constituent layer of the armor.Lumetrics has broad experience in measuring physical dimensions and optical properties of single and multi-layer structures.During Phase 1, Lumetrics proposes to develop a prototype benchtop instrument to measure a common set of spectral optical properties for various transparent armor materials and layups. Measurements made on constituent materials will be used as reference data sets to distinguish between materials of the same and/or different material classes.Material matching algorithms will be developed for comparing measured data to reference data sets.The same set of spectral optical properties will be measured for each layer in multilayer transparent armor layups simultaneously and compared to reference data sets to determine the matching material composition, as well as physical thickness of each layer.During Phase I Option, Lumetrics proposes to investigate temperature effects on the accuracy of material recognition.This information will be used to modify the detection algorithms to improve accuracy. In addition, we will begin designing a transportable version of the instrument, which will include a handheld probe interface , for testing the detection capabilities of the proposed approach on-site.