0000000000142024
AUTHOR
William J. Kerr
Ultrasonic phased array inspection of wire plus arc additive manufacture samples using conventional and total focusing method imaging approaches
In this study, three aluminium samples produced by wire + arc additive manufacture (WAAM) are inspected using ultrasonic phased array technology. Artificial defects are machined using a centre drill, ø 3 mm, and electrical discharge machining (EDM), ø 0.5-1 mm, in a cylindrical through-hole topology. The samples are first inspected using a single-element wheel probe mounted on a KUKA robot in order to investigate the feasibility of using a conventional ultrasonic transducer approach. Unfortunately, the wheel probe is found to be unsuitable for scanning the WAAM specimens and ultrasonic phased arrays are employed next. The set-up includes 5 MHz and 10 MHz arrays (128 elements) in direct cont…
Robotic geometric and volumetric inspection of high value and large scale aircraft wings
Increased demands in performance and production rates require a radical new approach to the design and manufacturing of aircraft wings. Performance of modern robotic manipulators has enabled research and development of fast automated non-destructive testing (NDT) systems for complex geometries. This paper presents recent outcomes of work aimed at removing the bottleneck due to data acquisition rates, to fully exploit the scanning speed of modern 6-DoF manipulators. The geometric assessment of the parts is carried out with a robotised dynamic laser scanner encoded through an absolute laser tracker. This method allows scanning speeds up to 330mm/s at 1mm pitch. State of the art ultrasonic ins…