CERAMIC COMPONENT NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING TECHNOLOGY

OPTICAL SIGNATURE ANALYSIS WILL BE APPLIED TO MASS-PRODUCTION QUALITY CONTROL OF ENGINEERING CERAMICS. ADAPTATION OF PROVEN EFFECTIVE OPTICAL TECHNIQUES TO MASS PRODUCTION REQUIRES INNOVATION IN RAPID DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING. THE PROPOSED INNOVATION APPLIES STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE (SDI) DISCRIMINATION TECHNIQUES. LIFETIME OF CERAMIC WEAR PARTS, SUCH AS BEARING AND CAMS, CAN DEPEND ON SURFACE DEFECTS OF 5-10 MICROMETERS, SO THE FIRST APPLICATION WILL BE PRODUCTION QUALITY CONTROL OF CERAMIC WEAR PARTS. THE DATA BASE DEVELOPED FOR THIS APPLICATION WILL BE USED IN SUBSEQUENT WORK TO GO BEYOND DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SURFACE DEFECTS. OUR GOAL IS TO ESTIMATE SPECIFIC STRUCTURAL STRENGTH PARAMETERS IN FINISHED PARTS BY PROCESSING OPTICAL SIGNATURE TIME-HISTORIES OF TRANSIENT MOTIONS. THE FEASIBILITY OF DETECTING SURFACE DEFECTS IN REGIMES FROM 5-10 MICROMETERS TO REGIMES GREATER THAN 100 MICROMETERS, ON A PRODUCTION LINE, WILL BE DETERMINED IN PHASE I. RESULTS WILL BE BASED ON PROCESSING DATA FROM LASER SCATTERING MEASURMENTS, USING SPECIMENS WITH WELL-CHARACTERIZED SURFACE PROPERTIES AND DEFECTS. SDI TECHNOLOGY, DEVELOPED BY NICHOLS RESEARCH CORPORATION, WILL BE COORDINATED WITH RESOURCES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE TO PROVE FEASIBILITY AND BEGIN THE REQUISITE DATA BASE.