Develop Capability to Measure the Health of High Impedance Resistive Materials

Texas Research Institute Austin proposes to team with a premier university and a DoD prime aircraft contractor to demonstrate feasibility of a modified pitch-catch RF energy method to measure resistivity of thin resistive coatings covered by dielectric topcoats. Phase I will also develop and demonstrate reflection measurement simultaneous to the pitch-catch approach. The combined data will allow, with no fore knowledge of coating properties, measuring: resistivity of the carbon loaded layer; thickness of the dielectric top coat; and dielectric properties of the top coat. The approach is especially versatile because it is wideband. Ability to measure electrical properties of the resistive layer and top coat independently will allow maintainers to know which layer is degrading/damaged and how severally it is damaged. Phase I will include both modeling and experimental work to demonstrate feasibility of the approach.