NDE of Marcelling in Composites Using Computed Tomography

The proposed program will investigate the feasibility of detecting and extracting detailed characterization of marcelling in composite panels with X-ray computed tomography (CT) without the use of special radiographic markers (such as tracer fibers). Marcelling conditions will not only be detected, but precisely located and characterized by using a variety of image processing tools. The innovation in the program lies in providing the engineer and the material scientist with quantitative engineering data. The marcel characterizations will include such useful engineering data as the location of marcels, their directionality (e.g. in-plane and out-of-plane), the frequency and amplitude of waviness, marcel centroids (both geometric and center of mass), surface areas, and volumes. The calculations can be made on either a local or global scale. Marcel maps derived from CT analysis of test specimens will be compared with destructive analysis to verify the validity of the CT characterizations.