Advanced, couplant free non-destructive testing system for next generation composite parts - CFLUX

复合材料在航空航天制造中的应用正在迅速加快，世界上最现代化的飞机机队中现在有50%以上是复合材料。与传统的铝制飞机相比，这些新一代飞机更轻、更省油，因此利润更高，同时显著减少了二氧化碳排放。然而，复合材料的生产成本要高得多，部分原因是它们还没有像金属那样得到充分的了解，因此该行业每年花费数百万美元慢慢检查每个部件是否有缺陷，然后才被认为足够安全，才能取代它在飞机上的位置，而且检查复合材料部件并不容易。碳纤维复合材料在许多方面都是航空航天建筑的理想材料，密度低于铝，硬度与重量比更大。它不会腐蚀，更不容易疲劳。碳纤维组件可以直接模压成所需的几何形状，从而减少了对易粘合区域的需求。但也有可能在构建材料本身时引入弱化区域--纤维可能会断裂或偏离排列，层可能会分离，缝隙可能会打开，所有这些都可能在材料内部结构的深处无形地发生，削弱材料并导致意外故障。制造商需要技术来检查其碳纤维组件的内部结构，CFLUX就是为此而设计的。灵感来自于传统的涡流无损检测技术，这种技术已经被用于铝制飞机。这些方法快速有效地发现了隐藏的缺陷，但依赖于金属良好的导电性。碳纤维的导电性比铝低1000倍，这使得涡流检测到目前为止是不可能的。CFLUX财团开发了创新的传感器技术，可以将灵敏度提高1000倍，检索到以前无法实现的高质量、高分辨率信号。不仅如此，这项技术非常微小，很容易开发成弹性、灵活的多传感器阵列，非常适合用于真正加快和降低检测过程成本所需的生产线机器人。使用CFLUX的机器人检测预计将比目前的工艺快30倍以上，将单个34平方米复合材料组件的检测成本从1,292 GB降低到仅GB 72。这支持了航空航天工业推动更轻、更具成本效益、对环境影响更小的安全飞机的发展。

The use of composite materials in aerospace manufacture is accelerating fast, with the most modern aircraft in the world's fleet now more than 50% composite materials. These new-generation aeroplanes are lighter, more fuel-efficient, and so more profitable, as well as significantly reducing CO2 emissions compared to traditional aluminium planes. However, composite materials are much more expensive to produce, partly because they are not yet as well-understood as metals, so the industry spends millions every year slowly inspecting each part for flaws before it is deemed safe enough to take its place in an aircraft, and inspecting composite components is not easy.Carbon fibre composite is in many ways an ideal material for aerospace construction, being less dense than aluminium, with a greater stiffness-to-weight ratio. It does not corrode and it is less susceptible to fatigue. Carbon fibre components can be moulded directly into their required geometry, reducing the need for vulnerable bonded areas. But there is also the possibility of introducing weakened areas when constructing the material itself - fibres can break or move out of alignment, layers can separate, gaps can open up, and this can all happen invisibly, deep within the internal structure of the material, weakening it and leading to unexpected failure.Manufacturers need techniques to inspect the internal structure of their carbon fibre components and CFLUX is designed to do just that. The inspiration comes from traditional eddy current non-destructive testing techniques that have been used for aluminium aircraft. These are fast and effective for finding hidden flaws but rely on the good conductivity of metals. Carbon fibre is 1000 times less conductive than aluminium, making eddy current testing impossible, until now.The CFLUX consortium have developed innovative sensor technology that can give sensitivities 1000 times greater than before, retrieving high-quality, high-resolution signals that were previously unachievable. Not only that, but this technology is tiny, making it easy to develop into multi-sensor arrays that are resilient, flexible and ideal for use in the production-line robotics necessary to really speed up and reduce the cost of the inspection process.Robotic inspections using CFLUX are expected to be more than 30 times faster than current processes, reducing inspection costs from £1,292 to just £72 for a single 34m2 composite component. This supports the aerospace industry in its drive for safe aircraft that are lighter, more cost-efficient, and have a reduced impact on our environment.