Evaluation of Bond Testing Equipment for Inspection of Army Advanced Composite Airframe Structures

摘要

Forty-one ultrasonic bond testing instruments for nondestructive inspection of composite airframe structures were evaluated based on information available in the literature. In addition, three of these instruments,the Fokker Bond-tester Model 80-L, the BondaScope 2100, and the Sonatest UFD-S, were evaluated in the laboratory using ten specimens of composite airframe structures supplied by the Army. All the specimens had unknown flaw conditions. Both the Fokker Bondtester and the BondaScope required only a few hours of operator training in calibration and operation. Both instruments require a liquid couplant and are used for spot checking. The UFD-S instrument was difficult to set up and calibrate without reference samples of known characteristics. Also, extensive operator training is required to calibrate and operate the UFD-S instrument. The UFD-S uses a wheel probe which does not require a liquid couplant and allows continuous scanning of the specimen. Keywords: Adhesives, Bonding, Nondestructive testing, Composite materials, Aircraft, Acoustic impedance, Shadow technique, Resonance, Ultrasonics. (jes)