MWM-Array Characterization of Widespread Fatigue Damage Onset

This proposal will investigate the potential of an enhanced version of the Meandering Winding Magnetometer (MWM), called the MWM-Array, to characterize and predict remaining life for components experiencing widespread fatigue damage. The MWM has already demonstrated the potential to characterize fatigue damage in metals priod to the formation of cracks, as well as the ability to detect and characterize cracks. This Phase I will extend the MWM capability to provide high resolution 3-dimensional images of conductivity. The four objectives of the Phase I project are to (1) demonstrate MWM-Array microstructure characterization on selected aircraft materials, (2) demonstrate crack profiling capability using the MWM-Array, (3) investigate the integration of MWM microstructure characterization with MWM-Array crack profiling, to predict crack growth rates, and (4) investigate the potential to assess widespread fatigue damage and predict remaining component life.