ASSESSMENT OF CT AS AN NDE METHODOLOGY FOR REINFORCED PHENOLIC NOZZLES

CURRENT NDE METHODS ARE LARGELY DEPENDENT UPON QUALITATIVE INDICATORS. TOMOGRAPHIC NDE METHODS OFFER THE POTENTIAL OF DEVELOPING QUANTITATIVE ACCEPT/REJECT CRITERIA. COMPUTED X-RAY TOMOGRAPHY (CT) CAN DEFINE MATERIAL CHARACTERISTICS, SUCH AS DENSITY, ON A SPATIALLY-RESOLVED BASIS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SENSITIVE MATERIAL PROPERTY-DENSITY RELATIONSHIPS COMBINED WITH SOLID MODELING AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS METHODS ALLOW THE CT DENSITY MEASUREMENT CAPABILITY TO BE EMPLOYED IN A QUANTITATIVE, PREDICTIVE MANNER. CT MEASUREMENTS ON CAARBON-PHENOLIC WILL BE CORRELATED WITH PHYSICAL DENSITY MEASUREMENTS TO ESTABLISH CT DENSITY CALIBRATION STANDARDS. MATERIAL PROPERTY-DENSITY MODELS WILL BE DEVELOPED BASED ON AVAILABLE DATA AND A LIMITED TEST PROGRAM. A TWO-DIMENSIONAL CARBON-PHENOLIC COMPONENT WILL BE SUBJECTED TO CT INSPECTION AND SUBJECTED TO A FINITE ELEMENT STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS BASED ON CT-DEDUCED MATERIAL PROPERTIES. MECHANICAL TESTING WILL PROVIDE EVALUATION OF PREDICTIVE CAPABILITIES. THE CAPABILITIES OF DUAL ENERGY CT AND NMR TO DETECT FOREIGN MATERIAL CONTAMINATION (I.E., WATER) WILL BE ADDRESSED.