Novel Nondestructive Evaluation for Aircraft Maintenance Part Inspection and Production

Non-destructive inspection (NDI) has been broadly used for mechanical health management and quality control in many fields. It is especially important for aircraft maintenance part inspection and production where any mechanical flaw may result in catastrophic failure. Due to current lengthy depot overhaul of aircraft maintenance and repairing, the Air Force is looking for solutions for accelerating the overhaul process and reducing deport maintenance time, returning the aircraft to service sooner and reducing overhaul costs. Boston Applied Technologies Incorporated (BATi) proposed the use of an X-ray Transmission/Backscattering NDI System for this purpose; and its Phase I results have demonstrated the feasibility of such technique. In this Phase II proposal, BATi will capitalize on the Phase I success and develop a lightweight X-ray Transmission/Backscattering NDI System for aircraft parts inspection. In this development effort, several innovative techniques will be implemented. The proposed technology will be able to collect both the backscattered and the transmitted x-ray signals simultaneously. A real-time differential imaging technique will be used to achieve high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio for enhanced inspection capabilities. The proposed NDI technology is therefore considered the method of choice to meet the Air Force aircraft maintenance part inspection and production requirements.