Search results for " NDE"

Optimization of the Mix-Design System for the Sub-ballast Railroad

2017

Bituminous sub-ballast is an alternative solution to the unbound granular sub-ballast used in the railway track due to several benefits that it can provide. Indeed, it contributes to maintain the moisture content in the subgrade unchanged during all year. This decreases the subgrade deterioration process. Moreover, the presence of bituminous sub-ballast can also reduce vertical stiffness variations on the track; it can have a positive effect in the maintenance needs at transition sections (bridge-embankment) and in the attenuation of the vibrations induced by the rail traffic. Despite the importance of the presence of the bituminous sub-ballast to conceive the construction and/or rehabilita…

Characterization of the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in nanocomposites by means of a non-destructive evaluation technique

An extensive use of CNTs enhanced polymer composites can be boosted by novel NDE techniques able to check the quality of the products made of these nanocomposites in order to guarantee that their specifications are met. It is well known in literature that the parameter that much more than others can affect the enhancing capabilities of the added nanoparticles is their dispersion. All the resulting physical properties of the CNTs based polymer composites depend strongly on level of dispersion of the CNTs throughout the matrix. Here we presented a novel NDE technique based on infrared thermography able to test the dispersion of the added nanoparticles in nanocomposites. Two different procedur…

Continuous monitoring of an intentionally-manufactured crack using an automated welding and in-process inspection system

2020

Abstract Automated weld deposition coupled with the real-time robotic Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) is used in this paper. For performance verification of the in-process inspection system, an intentionally embedded defect, a tungsten rod, is introduced into the multi-pass weld. A partially-filled groove (staircase) sample is also manufactured and ultrasonically tested to calibrate the real-time inspection implemented on all seven layers of the weld which are deposited progressively. The tungsten rod is successfully detected in the real-time NDE of the deposited position. The same robotic inspection system was then used to continuously monitor an intentionally-manufactured crack for 20 h.…

Testing the Dispersion of Nanoparticles in a Nanocomposite with an Ultra-Low Fill Content Using a Novel Non-Destructive Evaluation Technique

2022

A non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique capable of testing the dispersion of nanoparticles in a nanocomposite would be of great use to the industry to check the quality of the products made and to ensure compliance with their specifications. Very few NDE techniques found in the literature can evaluate the level of dispersion of the nanoparticles in the whole nanocomposite. Here, a recently developed NDE technique based on pulsed phase thermography (PPT) in transmission mode was used to assess the particle dispersion in ultra-low, less than 0.05 wt%, Ag enriched polymeric based nanocomposite manufactured with an innovative nano-coating fragmentation technique. The phasegrams obtained wi…

Improved Global-Local method for ultrasonic guided wave scattering predictions in composite waveguides and defects

2022

As structures increase in complexity, both in the use of advanced materials and high-performing designs such as composite assemblies, their health assessment becomes increasingly challenging. Ultrasonic guided waves (UGWs) have shown to be very promising in the inspection of large (i.e. aerospace components) attenuating (i.e. composite materials) structures and have been successfully employed for damage detection in a variety of fields. The intrinsic complex nature of UGWs, due to their dispersive behavior, combined with the structural complexity of the applications, though, requires improved inspection solutions of higher resolution and accuracy to ensure efficient and safe operations. The…

Simulation of laser generated ultrasound with application to defect detection

2008

Laser generated ultrasound holds substantial promise for use as a tool for defect detection in remote inspection thanks to its ability to produce frequencies in the MHz range, enabling fine spatial resolution of defects. Despite the potential impact of laser generated ultrasound in many areas of science and industry, robust tools for studying the phenomenon are lacking and thus limit the design and optimization of non-destructive testing and evaluation techniques. The laser generated ultrasound propagation in complex structures is an intricate phenomenon and is extremely hard to analyze. Only simple geometries can be studied analytically. Numerical techniques found in the literature have pr…

2D size, position and shape definition of defects by B-scan image analysis

2015

The non-destructive evaluation of defects by automatic procedures is of great importance for structural components. Thanks to the developments of the non-contact ultrasonic techniques, the automation of the inspections is gaining a progressively important role. In this work, an automatic inspection technique for the evaluation of defects by the analysis of B-scan images obtained by a laser ultrasonic system is presented. The data are extracted directly from a B-scan map obtained for a panel with internal defects, and are used to build an image of the cross section of the panel. The proposed automatic procedure allows the definition of size, position and shape of defects in panels of known t…

Tecnica non distruttiva per la valutazione dei livelli di dispersione dei nanotubi di carbonio nei compositi a matrice polimerica

È noto in letteratura che il parametro che molto più di altri può influenzare il potenziale incremento delle proprietà dei compositi a matrice polimerica dovuto alla presenza dei CNTs è la dispersione. Tutte le proprietà fisiche dei compositi polimerici a base di CNTs dipendono fortemente dal loro livello di dispersione nella matrice: una distribuzione omogenea ottimizza le prestazioni, mentre la formazione di aggregati e una scarsa dispersione determinano miglioramenti limitati delle proprietà della matrice. In questo lavoro viene presentata una nuova tecnica di valutazione non distruttiva (NDE) basata sulla termografia a infrarossi in grado di valutare il livello di dispersione dei CNTs n…