Portable Electromagnetic Diagnostic Tool for Nondestructive Evaluation System

Composite materials are being used in many practical applications such as aircraft, automobiles, spacecraft etc. for flghtweight. However, successful use of composite materials in these applications depends upon customer's ability to determine their properties and detecting volumetric or surface defects, if present. Most promising way of estimating properties and detecting defects in these materials is through the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of the materials using Electomagnetics (EM) diagnostic tools. In this proposed innovation, Innovative Aerodynamic Technologies (IAT) will develop (Phase I), a microwave system for detecting faults and cracks in a composite material and support the experimental results through numerical simulation. The successful demonstration of concept to detect faults in a composite material through experimental procedure may lead to the development of dedicated microwave system for fault detection. By the end of this innovation, IAT proposes to deliver the experimental setup for fault detection and also numerical simulation program for non-destructive evaluation of composite material slab. It will evaluate the resolution of NDE system in terms of size of fault/crack, spacing between two faults for given frequency range and angular range of scanning system. It will also deliver preliminary experimental results on some simple faults in multilayer slabs using hp 8510 Network Analyzer. BENEFITS: The proposed portable electromagnetic diagnostic toll will improve the quality checking prccedure for industries manufacturing composite materials. This will also be useful in detecting cracks and fatigue flaws in structures made up of composite material before they cause serious accidents. This will be highly useful for aircraft inspection performed by the airlines as well as by the general Aviation industry, the aircraft manufacturers and military repair facilities.