A DAMAGE-ASSESSMENT AND TEMPERATURE-MEASUREMENT SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR THERMO-STRUCTURAL TESTING OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

ADVANCED AEROSPACE PROGRAMS REQUIRE MATERIALS CAPABLE OF OPERATING IN TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENTS EXCEEDING 2000OF. TO ASSESS THE THERMAL AND STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE OF THESE MATERIALS, TESTING MUST BE PERFORMED AT HIGH TEMPERATURES. NEW TECHNIQUES ARE NEEDED TO MONITOR AND ASSESS MATERIAL PERFORMANCE UNDER THESE TEST CONDITIONS. PROPOSED IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMAGING SYSTEM FOR MONITORING THERMO-STRUCTURAL TESTING OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS AT TEMPERATURES EXCEEDING 2000OF. THIS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WILL COMBINE AND EXTEND RECENT ADVANCES IN THE FIELDS OF THERMAL-WAVE INFRARED IMAGING AND DAMAGE ASSESSMENT VIA COMPUTER-BASED ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE (AI) SYSTEMS. AS PART OF THIS PROGRAM, AN EXPERIMENT WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A REAL-TIME IR IMAGING SYSTEM TO ACQUIRE, ARCHIVE, AND INTERPRET THERMAL IMAGES OF COMPOSITE MATERIAL SPECIMENS DURING MECHANICAL AND THERMAL TESTING. IMAGES WILL BE ANALYZED BY AN AI APPROPRIATE FAILURE MODEL AND TO DESCRIBE, IN A QUANTITATIVE MANNER, HOW DAMAGE DEVELOPS AND PROPAGATES WITHIN THE MATERIAL. IN ADDITION, A TEMPERATURE-MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE WILL BE DEVELOPED TO PROVIDE A RELIABLE MEANS OF ACCURATELY MEASURING SPECIMENT TEMPERATURE.