Non-Destructive Evaluation Technology for Determining Bonding Integrity of Joining Materials at Micro-Level

The objective of this project is to develop a non-destructive and non-contact technology for determining bonding integrity of joining materials at micro-level. This technology must be fast enough to support high speed manufacturing processes used in the field. Simpex Technologies proposed approach combines low power, high sensitivity laser ultrasonic technology with high speed targeting technique, to measure (quantitatively) the attachment integrity of bonded materials such as diamond like hard coating on polymeric substrates. Simply, our Laser Ultrasonic Measurement Sensor represents an automation of the classical "tap test" in which an object is struck in some fashion and an experienced listener determines the adhesion integrity from the sound generated. This technique is much improved from the traditional ultrasonic / acoustic techniques. The object need not be contacted, the excitation is much gentler than that required in a contact test, and the whole approach lends itself to automation. This sensor technology is expected to monitor minute material propagation with a precision of 0.2 angstroms at a speed of 250 nanoseconds. Preliminary calculation indicates that the proposed non-contact, non-destructive system, mapping of 2,304 test pints on a 4'x 4' panel, will take less than 1 minute. By correlating our ultrasonic propagation signal against current bond strength measurement methods quantitative bonds strengths can be interpreted by non-contact means and in real-time.