Non-Destructive Testing Methods for Detecting Red Plague Within an Insulated Silver Plated Copper Conductor

Conductor faults can be devastating to a mission; having an embedded fault that is not detectable by current test and quality methods is a latent defect and impairs the integrity of the electrical wiring system.One such fault, Red Plague, is currently only found after damage has occurred (often not located until stored wire is stripped prior to installation or after installed wire is stripped during replacement/repair).This SBIR effortwill optimize, validate, and deliver methods to consistently create Red Plague, develop non-destructive test (NDT) methods to test for the presence of Red Plague, and ultimately design and develop an associated testing device that will reliably test wire for Red Plague throughout the wire products lifecycle.(Approved for Public Release 15-MDA-8482 (17 November 15))