An Overview of Non-Destructive Testing for Composites Materials

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 43 - 54, 30.04.2025

Mete Han Boztepe

https://doi.org/10.46740/alku.1649587

Abstract

Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods are essential for assessing the integrity and reliability of composite materials without causing damage. Composite materials are widely used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, and civil engineering. Therefore, the demand for advanced inspection techniques has increased. This article provides an overview of various NDT methods, including Visual Testing (VT) and Visual Inspection (VI), ultrasonic testing (UT), infrared thermography (IRT), and acoustic emission (AE). The advantages, limitations, and applications of these techniques are discussed. Their role in detecting defects such as delaminations, porosity, and fiber breakage observed in composite structures is highlighted.

Keywords

composite materials, non-destructive testing (NDT), ultrasonic test (UT), infrared thermography (IRT), acoustic emission (AE)

Kompozit Malzemeler İçin Tahribatsız Muayeneye Genel Bakış

Abstract

Tahribatsız Muayene (NDT) yöntemleri, hasara neden olmadan kompozit malzemelerin bütünlüğünü ve güvenilirliğini değerlendirmek için gereklidir. Kompozit malzemeler havacılık, otomotiv ve inşaat mühendisliği gibi endüstrilerde yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır. Bu nedenle, gelişmiş muayene tekniklerine olan talep artmıştır. Bu makale, Görsel Muayene (VT) ve Görsel Muayene (VI), ultrasonik test (UT), kızılötesi termografi (IRT) ve akustik emisyon (AE) dahil olmak üzere çeşitli NDT yöntemlerine genel bir bakış sunmaktadır. Bu tekniklerin avantajları, sınırlamaları ve uygulamaları tartışılmaktadır. Kompozit yapılarda gözlemlenen delaminasyonlar, gözeneklilik ve lif kırılması gibi kusurları tespit etmedeki rolleri vurgulanmaktadır.

Keywords

kompozit malzemeler, tahribatsız muayene (NDT), ultrasonik test (UT), kızılötesi termografi (IRT), akustik emisyon (AE)

References

• [1] P. H. Chen et al., "Thickness Measurement of Composite Material Using Eddy Current Testing," Advanced Materials Research, vol. 79–82, pp. 1995–1998, 2009.
• [2] Y. A. Fakhrudi, K. N. Faidzin, and R. M. Bisono, "Effect of Composite Composition on Mechanical Properties of Banana Fiber Composites With Epoxy Matrix for Functional Materials," International Journal of Science Engineering and Information Technology, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 303–306, 2022.
• [3] M. H. Boztepe, "Effect of surface treatments and stacking sequences on the mechanical properties of fiber metal laminates," M.S. thesis, Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Cukurova University, 2022.
• [4] B. Wang et al., "Non-destructive testing and evaluation of composite materials/structures: A state-of-the-art review," Advances in Mechanical Engineering, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 1687814020913761, 2014.
• [5] C. Garnier et al., "The detection of aeronautical defects in situ on composite structures using Non Destructive Testing," Composite Structures, vol. 93, no. 5, pp. 1328–1336, 2011.
• [6] W. Zhou et al., "Review on the performance improvements and non-destructive testing of patches repaired composites," Composite Structures, vol. 263, p. 113659, 2021.
• [7] N. Saha, P. Roy, and P. Topdar, "Damage detection in composites using non-destructive testing aided by ANN technique: A review," Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials, vol. 36, no. 12, pp. 4997–5033, 2023.
• [8] S. Gholizadeh, "A review of non-destructive testing methods of composite materials," Procedia Structural Integrity, vol. 1, pp. 50–57, 2016.
• [9] C. Galleguillos et al., "Thermographic Non-Destructive Inspection of Wind Turbine Blades Using Unmanned Aerial Systems," Plastics Rubber and Composites Macromolecular Engineering, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 98–103, 2015.
• [10] K. Ciecieląg et al., "Non-Destructive Detection of Real Defects in Polymer Composites by Ultrasonic Testing and Recurrence Analysis," Materials, vol. 15, no. 20, p. 7335, 2022.
• [11] V. Acanfora et al., "On the Use of Digital Image Correlation to Assess the Damage Behavior of Composite Coupons Under Compression," Macromolecular Symposia, vol. 404, no. 1, 2022.
• [12] H. Towsyfyan et al., "Successes and challenges in non-destructive testing of aircraft composite structures," Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 771–791, 2020.
• [13] Y. Liu et al., "Independent Component Thermography for Non-Destructive Testing of Defects in Polymer Composites," Measurement Science and Technology, vol. 30, no. 4, p. 044006, 2019.
• [14] J. S. Bale et al., "Damage Observation of Glass Fiber/Epoxy Composites Using Thermography and Supported by Acoustic Emission," Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 627, pp. 187–190, 2014.
• [15] W. Świderski and M. Pracht, "Non-Destructive Evaluation of Composite Helmets Using IR Thermography and Ultrasonic Excitation," Pomiary Automatyka Robotyka, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 89–92, 2021.
• [16] N. Tao, A. G. Anisimov, and R. M. Groves, "Spatially Modulated Thermal Excitations for Shearography Non-Destructive Inspection of Thick Composites," 2021, p. 29.
• [17] A. Gokul, S. Kuchipudi, and J. Dhanasekaran, "Inspection of Profiled Frp Composite Structures by Microwave NDE," International Journal of Microwave Engineering, vol. 5, 2020.
• [18] M. E. Torbali, A. Zolotas, and N. P. Avdelidis, "A State-of-the-Art Review of Non-Destructive Testing Image Fusion and Critical Insights on the Inspection of Aerospace Composites towards Sustainable Maintenance Repair Operations," Applied Sciences, vol. 13, no. 4, p. 2732, 2023.
• [19] Z. Li and Z. Meng, "A Review of the Radio Frequency Non-destructive Testing for Carbon-fibre Composites," Measurement Science Review, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 68–76, 2016.
• [20] N. Guillaud et al., "Impact Response of Thick Composite Plates Under Uniaxial Tensile Preloading," Composite Structures, vol. 121, pp. 172–181, 2015.
• [21] D. Mascareñas et al., "Augmented Reality for Next Generation Infrastructure Inspections," Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1957–1979, 2020.
• [22] M. Waqar et al., "Composite pipelines: Analyzing defects and advancements in non-destructive testing techniques," Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 157, p. 107914, 2024.
• [23] D. Findeis, J. Gryzagoridis, and C. Lombe, "Comparing Infrared Thermography and ESPI for NDE of Aircraft Composites," Insight - Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring, vol. 52, no. 5, pp. 244–247, 2010.
• [24] H. J. Shin and J. R. Lee, "Development of a Long-Range Multi-Area Scanning Ultrasonic Propagation Imaging System Built Into a Hangar and Its Application on an Actual Aircraft," Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 97–111, 2016.
• [25] A. Sellitto et al., "Ultrasonic Damage Detection of Impacted Long and Short Fibre Composite Specimens," Key Engineering Materials, vol. 827, pp. 31–36, 2019.
• [26] A. Bondyra and P. D. Pastuszak, "3D Scanning Inspection of the Composite Structures," Journal of Kones Powertrain and Transport, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 31–36, 2014.
• [27] R. Růžek et al., "CFRP Fuselage Panel Behavior Monitoring Using Fibre Optic and Resistance Sensors and Optical Contactless Measurements," Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 827, pp. 51–56, 2016.
• [28] S. Sundaram and A. Zeid, "Artificial Intelligence-Based Smart Quality Inspection for Manufacturing," Micromachines, vol. 14, no. 3, p. 570, 2023.
• [29] P. Theodorakeas et al., "Comparative Evaluation of Aerospace Composites Using Thermography and Ultrasonic NDT Techniques," 2015, vol. 9485, p. 948504.
• [30] N. H. Gandhi et al., "Understanding System Complexity in the Non-Destructive Testing of Advanced Composite Products," Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, vol. 6, no. 4, p. 71, 2022.
• [31] L. Mezeix and K. Wongtimnoi, "Non Destructive Testings on Damaged Multi-Cores Materials Sandwich Structures," 2020, p. 13.
• [32] G. S. LeMay and D. Askari, "A New Method for Ultrasonic Detection of Peel Ply at the Bondline of Out-of-Autoclave Composite Assemblies," Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 245–259, 2018.
• [33] A. D. Abetew et al., "Parametric Optimization of Pulse-Echo Laser Ultrasonic System for Inspection of Thick Polymer Matrix Composites," Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 443–453, 2020.
• [34] C. Casavola et al., "Analysis of CFRP Joints by Means of T-Pull Mechanical Test and Ultrasonic Defects Detection," Materials, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 620, 2018.
• [35] Y. Humeida et al., "Simulation of Ultrasonic Array Imaging of Composite Materials With Defects," IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, vol. 60, no. 9, pp. 1935–1948, 2013.
• [36] Y. She et al., "Nano-Additive Manufacturing and Non-Destructive Testing of Nanocomposites," Nanomaterials, vol. 13, no. 20, p. 2741, 2023.
• [37] G. Poelman et al., "Optical Infrared Thermography of CFRP With Artificial Defects: Performance of Various Post-Processing Techniques," 2018, p. 457.
• [38] K. G. Dassios and T. E. Matikas, "Assessment of Fatigue Damage and Crack Propagation in Ceramic Matrix Composites by Infrared Thermography," Ceramics, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 393–406, 2019.
• [39] K. G. Dassios et al., "Crack Growth Monitoring in Ceramic Matrix Composites by Combined Infrared Thermography and Acoustic Emission," Journal of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 251–257, 2013.
• [40] G.-W. Hong et al., "The Evaluation of Bimaterial Specimen With FDM 3D Printing Technology by Infrared Thermography," 2017.
• [41] R. Andoga et al., "Intelligent Thermal Imaging-Based Diagnostics of Turbojet Engines," Applied Sciences, vol. 9, no. 11, p. 2253, 2019.
• [42] W. Wang et al., "Investigation on the Behavior of Tensile Damage Evolution in T700/6808 Composite Based on Acoustic Emission Technology," Shock and Vibration, vol. 2016, p. 1–9, 2016.
• [43] Y. Zhang, W. Zhou, and P.-F. Zhang, "Quasi-Static Indentation Damage and Residual Compressive Failure Analysis of Carbon Fiber Composites Using Acoustic Emission and Micro-Computed Tomography," Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 229–243, 2019.
• [44] A. Mahdian et al., "Damage Evaluation of Laminated Composites Under Low-Velocity Impact Tests Using Acoustic Emission Method," Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 479–490, 2016.
• [45] I. Silversides, A. Maslouhi, and G. LaPlante, "Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Interlaminar Delamination Onset in Carbon Fibre Composites," Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 126–140, 2013.
• [46] M. H. Zohari, J. Epaarachchi, and K.-T. Lau, "Modal Acoustic Emission Investigation for Progressive Failure Monitoring in Thin Composite Plates Under Tensile Test," Key Engineering Materials, vol. 558, pp. 65–75, 2013.
• [47] D. Wang et al., "Acoustic emission characteristics of used 70 MPa type IV hydrogen storage tanks during hydrostatic burst tests," International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 46, no. 23, pp. 12605–12614, 2021.
• [48] W. Zhou et al., "Review on optimization design, failure analysis and non-destructive testing of composite hydrogen storage vessel," International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 47, 2022.
• [49] P. Liu, J. Yang, and X. Peng, "Delamination Analysis of Carbon Fiber Composites Under Hygrothermal Environment Using Acoustic Emission," Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 51, no. 11, pp. 1557–1571, 2016.
• [50] M. Fotouhi et al., "Investigation of the Damage Mechanisms for Mode I Delamination Growth in Foam Core Sandwich Composites Using Acoustic Emission," Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 265–280, 2015.
• [51] N. Beheshtizadeh and A. Mostafapour, "Characterization of Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composite Damage by Acoustic Emission Using FFT and Wavelet Analysis," Advanced Engineering Forum, vol. 17, pp. 77–88, 2016.
• [52] R. Mohammadi et al., "A Quantitative Assessment of the Damage Mechanisms of CFRP Laminates Interleaved by PA66 Electrospun Nanofibers Using Acoustic Emission," Composite Structures, vol. 258, p. 113395, 2021.