Sonic Infrared Inspection for Airseals and Spacers

This proposal provides a reliable, rapid and low-cost method of inspecting coated engine airseals using the commercially available Sonic IR inspection system, so that they may be safely reused, rather than being scrapped and replaced as at present. Sonic IR is a thermographic, non-destructive testing method capable of detecting cracks in coated and uncoated parts. Currently, available inspection techniques are not cost-effective, and so millions of dollars’ worth of serviceable airseals are being scrapped. The Air Force currently scraps out serviceable parts because it does not have cost-effective methods of inspecting them to determine their integrity so that they may be returned to service. Airseal inspection using the Air Force’s current inspection techniques, fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI) and eddy current inspection (ECI), would require the coating to be removed from the airseals, which would then need to be thoroughly cleaned before the FPI and ECI inspection could be undertaken. Airseals passing the FPI and ECI inspections would then need to have the coating reapplied, making the overall process time-consuming and expensive, and therefore not cost-effective.