Defect Reconstruction in Laminated Composites by Ultrasonic Imaging

Abstract:

Ultrasonic method for the investigation of multi-layered laminates such as glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) has been a challenging task in industry due to their inherent nature as a combination of constituents and the respective fabrication process. The coarse-grain structure of the material, fiber orientation and stacking sequence of laminated composites generate undesirable echoes for the ultrasonic signals during the testing. These echoes distributed randomly in time affects the measurements of ultrasonic parameters. In this paper, the utilization of attenuation and time-of-flight (TOF) of ultrasound signals to reconstruct the internal structure of GFRP subsurface region were investigated. Comparisons of these two methods were conducted on two sets of GFRP with different structure condition. Analysis of C-scan images constructed by amplitude and TOF were conducted in a two dimensional region map of the scanning profile. Experimental results showed that attenuation of amplitude gave a better indication of damage and successfully improved the defect region detection in multi-layered reinforced composite materials.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 263-266)
• Pages: 371-377
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.263-266.371
• Online since: December 2012
• Authors: S.C. Ng, Napsiah Binti Ismail, Aidy Ali, Barkawi Sahari
• Keywords: Attenuation, C-Scan, Multi-Layered Composites, Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E), Ultrasound (US)

References

[1] Ng S.C., Ismail N., Aidy Ali, Barkawi Sahari, Yusof J.M. and Chu B.W. Non-destructive Inspection of Multi-layered Composite Using Ultrasonic Signal Processing. IOP Conference Series: Material Science and Engineering (2011), 17 012045.

DOI: 10.1088/1757-899x/17/1/012045

[2] Campbell, F.C. Manufacturing process for advanced composites (2004), Oxford: Elsevier.

[3] Scott, I.G. and Scala, C.M. A review of non-destructive testing of composite materials. NDT International (1982), 15(2): pp.75-86.

DOI: 10.1016/0308-9126(82)90001-3

[4] Shi, Y., Swait, T. and Soutis, C. Modelling damage evolution in composite laminates subjected to low velocity impact. Composite Structures (2012), 94(9): pp.2902-2913.

DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2012.03.039

[5] Balaskó, M., Sváb, E., Molnár, Gy. and Veres, I. Classification of defects in honeycomb composite structure of helicopter rotor blades. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment (2005), 542(1-3): pp.45-51.

DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2005.01.010

[6] Forli, D. and Torp, S. NDT of glass fiber reinforced plastics (GRP). In Proc. 8th World Conference on NDT, (1976).

[7] Giurgiutiu, V. and Cuc, A. Embedded non-destructive evaluation for structural health monitoring, damage detection, and failure prevention. The Shock and Vibration Digest, (2005), 37(2): pp.83-105.

DOI: 10.1177/0583102405052561

[8] ASNT, Nondestructive Testing Handbook (2004).

[9] Qin Shen, Mohammed Omar, Shan Dongri. Ultrasonic NDE Techniques for Impact Damage Inspection on CFRP Laminates. Journal of Materials Science Research (2012), 1(1): pp.1-16.

DOI: 10.5539/jmsr.v1n1p2

[10] D'Orazio, T., Leo, M., Distante, A., Guaragnella, C., Pianese, V. and Cavaccini, G. Automatic ultrasonic inspection for internal defect detection in composite materials, NDT & E International (2008), 41(2), pp.145-154.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ndteint.2007.08.001

[11] Diamanti, K., Soutis, C. and Hodgkinson, J.M. Lamb waves for the non-destructive inspection of monolithic and sandwich composite beams. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing (2005), 36(2): p.189–195.

DOI: 10.1016/s1359-835x(04)00162-9