Application of non destructive testing to the detection of aeronautical defects in composite structures

A study of two Non-destructive Testing methods (NDT) was carried out in specimens with different kinds of simulated defects. Ultrasonics test (US) and Infrared Thermography (IRT) were applied with the aim to evaluate the detectability and the accuracy of each method.These techniques have acquired great importance in the aeronautics industry because they allow to control the aerostructures without intervening in their physical and mechanical integrity. In the second part of the study, a comparison of both techniques was achieved in order toanalyse their limits and advantages. It appeared that detectability of defects was much better in a sample with flat-bottomed holes defects in the case of Ultrasonic Test. However it was found that Infrared Thermography is much more limited to the thickness of the specimen than the ultrasonic waves. On the other hand, defects were all revealed with IRT in a sandwich composite including Teflon inserts, which was not the case for US

Toward improvement of the properties of parts manufactured by FFF ( Fused Filament Fabrication) through understanding the influence of temperature and rheological behaviour on the coalescence phenomenon

In this paper, the printing temperature ranges of PLA and PEEK, two semi-crystalline thermoplastics, have been investigated for the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) process. The printing range, comprised between the melting temperature and the degradation of each polymer, is 160°C to 190°C for PLA and 350°C to 390°C for PEEK. The complex viscosity has been measured for both polymers within the printing range. The kinetics of coalescence has been registered by measuring the bonding length between two filaments of the same polymer according to the temperature. At 167°C, the filaments of PLA reached the maximum value of bonding length. For PEEK, the filaments reached the maximum value of bonding length at 380°C. For the both materials, the final height of the filament is 80% of the initial diameter. The comparison of the obtained results with experimental study and predictive model shows a good agreement when the polymer is totally in fusion state

Experimental investigation of impact behavior of wood-based sandwich structures

Low carbon emission and sustainable development are shared goals throughout the transportation industry. One way to meet such expectations is to introduce lightweight materials based on renewable sources. Sandwich panels with plywood core and fiber reinforced composite skins appear to be good candidates. Additional properties of wood such as fire resistance or thermal and acoustic insulation are also essential for many ap- plications and could lead to a new interest for this old material. In this paper, Sandwich panels with two different types of plywood and four different skins (aluminum and glass, CFRP, or flax reinforced polymer) are tested under low-velocity/low energy impacts and their behavior is discussed

Manufacturing and quasi-static bending behavior of wood-based sandwich structures.

The quasi-static behavior of innovative wood based sandwich structures with plywood core and skins made either of aluminum or of fiber reinforced polymer (carbon, glass or flax composite skins) was investigated. The wood based sandwich structures were subjected to three point static bending tests to determine their strength and failure mechanisms. Two different manufacturing processes, namely vacuum bag molding and thermo-compression, were used to manufacture the structures. The influence of some aspects of the different manufacturing processes on the flexural behavior of wood based sandwich structures are discussed. It is shown that manufacturing processes influence strongly the static responses. Failure modes and strengths are investigated during quasi-static bending tests. Bending tests showed that the mechanical characteristics were very high compared to those of a reference sandwich that is currently used for civil aircraft floors. This new kind of structure is environmentally friendly and very cheap, and seems promising for the transportation industry in general

Identification de mécanismes d’endommagement de stratifiés carbone/époxy par couplage entre émission acoustique et thermographie infrarouge

Ce travail de recherche vise à améliorer la compréhension et la caractérisation des mécanismes d’endommagement pouvant affecter sous chargements quasi-statiques le comportement des composites carbone-époxy unidirectionnels en couplant deux méthodes de suivi de l’endommagement : l’émission acoustique (EA) et la thermographie infrarouge (TI)

Utilisation de la thermographie infrarouge et de l'émission acoustique pour l'identification de l'endommagement d'un composite stratifié carbone-époxy

Le manque de connaissances dans le comportement des matériaux composites à base carbone induit encore de nombreux surcoûts pour la fabrication des structures aéronautiques. Lorsqu’une structure stratifiée en matériaux composites est sollicitée, la dégradation de ses propriétés est effective avant sa rupture. Actuellement, un certain nombre de techniques de contrôle non destructif visent à caractériser les propriétés mécaniques d’un matériau de manière à estimer l’importance de cet endommagement. La caractérisation ultrasonore en immersion donne notamment accès aux constantes élastiques du matériau. La thermographie infrarouge et les émissions acoustiques permettent quant à elles de déterminer la charge élastique et de mettre en évidence le début de l’endommagement. Ce document présente un couplage de la thermographie infrarouge et de la mesure des émissions acoustiques de façon à contrôler la structure en temps réel lors du chargement. Cette méthodologie est mise en œuvre sur des composites carbone-époxy unidrectionnels sollicités en traction uniaxiale dans des situations dans et hors axes. La corrélation des différentes techniques permettent une compéhension fine de l’endommagement de ces structures composites

Identification of damage mechanisms in CFRP composites by coupling acoustic emission and infrared thermography

To study the mechanical behavior of CFRP composites, two methods of damage monitoring are coupled: the acoustic emission (AE) and the infrared thermography (IT). Several studies on the coupling of these two techniques have shown, for example, that it is possible to determine the fatigue strength of ceramic matrix composites under fatigue loading [1]. Other authors have shown the link between the temperature variation and the acoustic parameters evolution (like energy and the number of signals) during fatigue tests on epoxy glass composites [2] and on metallic materials [3]. The similarity of these studies concerns the kind of loading used: a cyclic loading. The aim of this study is to be able to improve the understanding and the characterization of damage mechanisms of unidirectional CFRP composites by coupling acoustic emission and infrared thermography. Besides, damage behavior of CFRP composites samples under static and cyclic loadings are compared

Determination of the elastic properties in CFRP composites: comparison of different approaches based on tensile tests and ultrasonic characterization

The mechanical characterization of composite materials is nowadays a major interest due to their increasing use in the aeronautic industry. The design of most of these materials is based on their stiffness, which is mainly obtained by means of tensile tests with strain gauge measurement. For thin laminated composites, this classical method requires adequate samples with specific orientation and does not provide all the independent elastic constants. Regarding ultrasonic characterization, especially immersion technique, only one specimen is needed and the entire determination of the stiffness tensor is possible. This paper presents a study of different methods to determine the mechanical properties of transversely isotropic carbon fibre composite materials (gauge and correlation strain measurement during tensile tests, ultrasonic immersion technique). Results are compared to ISO standards and manufacturer data to evaluate the accuracy of these techniques

Influence of the printing parameters on the stability of the deposited beads in fused filament fabrication of poly(lactic) acid

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is one among a wide variety of processes of Additive Manufacturing. Similar to the others, FFF enables freeform fabrication and optimized structures, from. The aim of this work is to optimize the printing conditions in the FFF process based on reliable properties: printing parameters and physical properties of the polymer. The chosen polymer is poly(lactic) acid (PLA), a biodegradable thermoplastic polyester derived from corn starch and, as one of the most common polymers in the FFF process. the maximum inlet velocity of the filament in the liquefier is empirically determined according to process parameters such as the feed rate, the nozzle diameter and the dimensions of the deposited segment. Then, the rheological behavior of poly(lactic) acid including the velocity field, the shear rate and the viscosity distribution in the nozzle are determined by analytical study and numerical simulation. Our results show the variation of the shear rate according to the diameter of the nozzle and the inlet velocity. The shear rate reaches its maximum value for high inlet velocity and smaller diameters, near the internal wall. The distribution of the viscosity is obtained along the radius of the nozzle. For high inlet velocity, some defects appear at the surface of the extrudates. At highest shear rates, the extrudates undergo severe deformation microscopy. These results are valuable for choosing the printing parameters ( in order to improve the quality of the manufactured parts

Influence of parameters controlling the extrusion step in fused filament fabrication (FFF) process applied to polymers using numerical simulation

Extrusion is one of the oldest manufacturing processes; it is widely used for manufacturing finished and semi- finished products. Moreover, extrusion is also the main process in additive manufacturing technologies such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). In FFF process, the parts are manufactured layer by layer using thermoplastic material. The latter in form of filament, is melted in the liquefier and then it is extruded and deposited on the previous layer. The mechanical properties of the printed parts rely on the coalescence of each extrudate with another one. The coalescence phenomenon is driven by the flow properties of the melted polymer when it comes out the nozzle just before the deposition step. This study aims to master the quality of the printed parts by controlling the effect of the parameters of the extruder on the flow properties in the FFF process. In the current study, numerical simulation of the polymer coming out of the extruder was carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and two phase flow (TPF) simulation Level Set (LS) method by 2D axisymmetric module of COMSOL Multiphysics software. In order to pair the heat transfer with the flow simulation, an advection-diffusion equation was used. Advection-diffusion equation was implemented as a Partial Differential Equation (PDE) in the software. In order to define the variation of viscosity of the polymer with temperature, the rheological behaviors of two thermoplastics were measured by extensional rheometer and using a parallel-plate configuration of an oscillatory rheometer. The results highlight the influence of the environment temperature and the cooling rate on the temperature and viscosity of the extrudate exiting from the nozzle. Moreover, the temperature and its corresponding viscosity at different times have been determined using numerical simulation. At highest shear rates, the extrudate undergoes deformation from typical cylindrical shape. These results are required to predict the coalescence of filaments, a step towards understanding the mechanical properties of the printed parts