DEVELOPMENT OF AN ULTRASONIC TECHNOLOGY TO REPLACE AN ENVIRONMENT-POLLUTING MEASUREMENT PRACTICE IN THE ADVANCED COMPOSITES INDUSTRY

THE PROPOSAL IS AIMED AT DEVELOPING AN ULTRASONIC TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN BE UTILIZED AS THE BASIS TO BUILD NONDESTRUCTIVE OFF-LINE MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS THAT CAN BE USED TO ESTABLISH THE QUALITY OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS USED IN AEROSPACE, MARINE, AND AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES. THE ULTRASONIC TECHNOLOGY COULD REPLACE THE CURRENT INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE WHICH IS ENVIRONMENT-POLLUTING AND HAZARDOUS WASTE INTENSIVE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO USE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ULTRASONIC WAVE PROPAGATION TO DETERMINE THE RESIN CONTENT AND FIBER AREAL WEIGHT OF PREPREG MATERIALS WITH FOCUS ON POLYMER BASED UNIDIRECTIONSL GRAPHITE PREPREGS. THESE PARAMETERS ARE PRESENTLY DETERMINED IN THE ADVANCED COMPOSITE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY THROUGH CHEMICAL TESTS IN WHICH LARGE VOLUMES OF HAZARDOUS WASTE CONTAINING METHYL ETHYL KETONE (MEK) AND ACETONE ARE PRODUCED. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT ABOUT ONE MILLION GALLONS OF MEK AND/OR ACETONE WASTE PER YEAR ARE GENERATED FROM THESE TESTS. SUCCESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROPOSED ULTRASONIC TECHNOLOGY MAY BE COMPLETELY CHANGE THE CURRENT PRACTICE, HENCE ELIMINATION THE CHEMICAL WASTE AND THE USE OF MATERIALS THAT POLLUTE THE ENVIRONMENT.