Characterization and Comparison of Defects Detection Limits of Ultrasonic Non Destructive Techniques

This work deals with the Liquid Resin Infusion (LRI) process developed within the research program “FUSelage COMPosite” of DAHER SOCATA. This manufacturing process enables the realization of complex composite structures or fuselage elements in a single phase (mono-material), which considerably reduce connections and relative difficulties. The concern here is the investigation of non destructive testing (NDT) methods that can be applied to LRI-structures in order to define their capacities for defect detection, and especially their associated critical defect size. In aviation industry, the AITM standards require the ultrasonic testing as NDT for composite materials. Therefore the aim of this work is to characterize and compare three different and complementary ultrasonic techniques on composite specimens. Such analysis allows to define the NDT application field of each method in term of defect detection.