Speaker
Description
Since about 10 years, Safran develops the use of active thermography for Non Destructive Inspection of aircraft and aerospace components. Initial applications were dedicated to composites parts, monolithic or sandwich, such as components for aircraft nacelles. The efficiency of the method lead Safran to investigate also the extension for application on metallic components.
Considering thermography is an emerging inspection method, Safran was faced with the fact that there was no existing standard and / or methodology available to check how the equipment behaves and make sure that production inspection is performed correctly.
Active thermography inspection for industrial applications requires the use of different component: infrared camera, excitation device, positioning and scanning system, information technology, dedicated reference test specimen,…
While integrating the inspection method for composites parts on the machine called IRIS, Safran defined the parameters to be checked on every single component and the associated periodicity. Some are checked daily internally with standard equipment. Some others require specific procedures and equipment, e.g. the use of external black bodies, and have to be performed externally by an accredited laboratory.
This paper will list the different periodical checks operated for all the components of our flash thermography machine. Some examples of results will be illustrated (evolution of camera cooling duration, flash energy deposit,…).
Current lacks in IRT standards and needs of representative reference samples will finally be discussed.
