Infrastructure for the non-destructive inspection of advanced aerospace composites

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The applicant is seeking funding to establish an ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) capability at Carleton University to quantify damage and defects in advanced aerospace and non-aerospace composite materials. Carleton University currently lacks even rudimentary NDE capabilities for aerospace structures. The proposed equipment uses a ultrasonic sensor array to produce wide area, real time images of the regions of interest inside the components during the inspections. The proposed unit can also provide quantitative information about the depth of damaged regions within the structures. This equipment will initially be used to validate the development of on-board aircraft structural health monitoring systems for impact damage, to assess the effect of manufacturing defects on composite part quality and support the design and manufacturing of advanced small uninhabited aerial vehicles and aircraft components. Over the longer term other applications will be explored by the applicant including uses in the biomedical and other non-aerospace fields. Undergraduate and graduate students and university technicians will receive training in the operation of this equipment from the proposed supplier and the applicant will provide advanced training in the interpretation of NDE inspection results based on his extensive past experience. This training will include the basic principles of ultrasonic NDE, the limitations of this type of system and how to interpret inspection results. The use of advanced NDE is critical in ensuring the safe and reliable operation of aerospace systems. Aerospace engineers trained at Carleton University will have hands-on experience in this area through the use of the proposed equipment.