Self-Calibrated Multi-Point Fatigue and Corrosion Sensors for NDI of Aging Aircrafts

Metallic materials used in most contemporary structures are prone to failures associated with crack growth and corrosion. These problems are especially true for aircraft where corrosion-induced fatigue and cracking of structural components can lead to catastrophic failures, endangering human lives and costing millions of dollars in damage. Corrosion in aircraft most often occurs in inaccessible regions where it is difficult to detect using conventional techniques. Conventional detection techniques that are used on a scheduled basis are labor intensive, subject to technician error, and are costly to implement. The proposed Phase I SBIR program will focus on the development of remote arrays of optical fiber sensors for crack and corrosion detection in Naval metallic aircraft structural components, which will lead to tremendous time and cost savings by allowing on-demand maintenance instead of scheduled maintenance and repair. Optical fiber sensors provide a unique opportunity for the development of the types of nondestructive testing/inspection (NDT/I) systems required for the Navy's aircraft fleet. The most salient features of Fiber and Sensor Technologies state-of-the-art optical fiber strain, crack, and corrosion sensors is their ability to be self- calibrated throughout the lifetime of the aircraft in addition to their ability to be implemented within multi-sensor arrays to simultaneous map strain and corrosion across the aircraft structure.