Thin Mat Material Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Inspection System

Structural skins and other components of advanced military aircraft include fiberglass or quartz composite construction. The presence of conductive impurities can lead to a spatially varying dielectric permittivity which creates unintended electromagnetic scatter. The present need is for a device that can verify that all of the skin materials are free of contaminants without creating a large bottleneck in the production process. In Phase I of this topic, CTG developed and demonstrated a device capable of detecting conductive fibers in dielectric sheets. This device met the technical requirements needed by the end-user with regard to fiber sensitivity and scan speed, and additionally demonstrated an ability to map the locations of such defects.   In Phase II of this topic, CTG proposes several key areas to improve upon the Phase I work.  CTG proposes several reworks to the design of device and software to improve the sensitivity of the device further and to improve the ease of use for the end-user. In addition, the system will be integrated into a manufacturing testing setup to validate the system in a realistic environment.