Effective NDE of Composites Through High Resolution Areal Tomosynthesis

Modern composites are complex, anisotropic and have a propensity to hide flaws and impact damage. Because current NDE techniques are inadequate, the full benefits of composites are unrealized as all these uncertainties demand greater safety factors that result in structures two to four times as massive as they would otherwise be. X-ray laminography is a superior NDE technique for composites with its layer by layer laminographic reconstruction through a composite thickness. But as currently practiced, laminography is extremely slow, cumbersome and requires the use of expensive/large special purpose linear detector arrays and precise/expensive test specimen registration equipment. Our innovation accomplishes X-ray laminography using a high resolution areal X-ray camera developed by the Air Force/Lockheed, the technique eliminates the need for expensive mechanical registration equipment, is not limited to planar surfaces and most important, it is an order of magnitude faster than conventional X-ray laminography. In our proposed Phase I program, Lockheed will permit us to obtain data on a flawed composite using their new areal camera to demonstrate the superior performance of our High Resolution Areal Tomosynthesis (HAT) System. In Phase II we design, build and demonstrate a prototype HAT that would incorporate the AF/Lockheed camera.