Composite doublers, or repair patches, provide an innovative repair technique which can enhance the way aircraft are maintained. Instead of riveting multiple steel or aluminum plates to facilitate an aircraft repair, it is possible to bond a single Boron-Epoxy composite doubler to the damaged structure. Most of the concerns surrounding composite doubler technology pertain to long-term survivability, especially in the presence of non-optimum installations, and the validation of appropriate inspection procedures. This report focuses on a series of full-scale structural and nondestructive inspection (NDI) tests that were conducted to investigate the performance of Boron-Epoxy composite doublers. Full-scale tests were conducted on fuselage panels cut from retired aircraft. These full-scale tests studied stress reductions, crack mitigation, and load transfer capabilities of composite doublers using simulated flight conditions of cabin pressure and axial stress. Also, structures which modeled key aspects of aircraft structure repairs were subjected to extreme tension, shear and bending loads to examine the composite laminate's resistance to disbond and delamination flaws. Several of the structures were loaded to failure in order to determine doubler design margins. Nondestructive inspections were conducted throughout the test series in order to validate appropriate techniques on actual aircraft structure. The test results showed that a properly designed and installed composite doubler is able to enhance fatigue life, transfer load away from damaged structure, and avoid the introduction of new stress risers (i.e. eliminate global reduction in the fatigue life of the structure). Comparisons with test data obtained prior to the doubler installation revealed that stresses in the parent material can be reduced 30°/0-60°/0 through the use of the composite doubler. Tests to failure demonstrated that the bondline is able to transfer plastic strains into the doubler and that the parent aluminum skin must experience significant yield strains before any darnage to the doubler will occur.
ow1 O C T O 3One of the major thrusts established under the FAA's National Aging Aircraft Research Program is to foster new technologies associated with civil aircraft maintenance. Recent DOD and other government developments in the use of bonded composite doublers on metal structures has supported the need for research and validation of such doubler applications on U.S. certificated airplanes. Composite doubler technology is rapidly maturing and shows promise of cost savings on aging aircraft. While there have been numerous studies and military aircraft installations of composite doublers, the technology has not been certified for use on commercial aircraft. Before the use of composite doublers can be accepted by the civil aviation industry, it is imperative that methods be developed which can quickly and reliably assess the integrity of the doubler. In this study, a specific composite application was chosen on an L-1 01 1 aircraft in order to focus the tasks on application and operation issues. Primary among inspection requirements for these doublers is the identification of disbonds, between the composite laminate and aluminum parent material, and delaminations in the composite laminate. Surveillance of cracks or corrosion in the parent aluminum material beneath the doubler is also a concern. No single nondestructive inspection (NDI) method can inspect for every flaw type, therefore it is important to be aware of available NDI techniques and to properly address their capabilities and limitations. This paper reports on a series of NDI tests which have been conducted on laboratory test structures and on a fuselage section cut from a retired L-I011 aircraft. Specific challenges, unique to bonded composite doubler applications, will be highlighted. In order to quickly integrate this technology into existing aircraft maintenance depots, the use of conventional NDI, ultrasonics, X-ray, and eddy current, is stressed. The application of these NDI techniques to composite doublers and the results from test specimens, which were loaded to provide a changing flaw profile, are presented in this paper. The development of appropriate inspection calibration standards will also be discussed.
The reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) heat shield components on the Space Shuttle's wings must withstand harsh atmospheric reentry environments where the wing leading edge can reach temperatures of 3,000 o F. Potential damage includes impact damage, micro cracks, oxidation in the silicon carbide-to-carbon-carbon layers, and interlaminar disbonds. Since accumulated damage in the thick, carbon-carbon and silicon-carbide layers of the heat shields can lead to catastrophic failure of the Shuttle's heat protection system, it was essential for NASA to institute an accurate health monitoring program. NASA's goal was to obtain turnkey inspection systems that could certify the integrity of the Shuttle heat shields prior to each mission. Because of the possibility of damaging the heat shields during removal, the NDI devices must be deployed without removing the leading edge panels from the wing. Recently, NASA selected a multi-method approach for inspecting the wing leading edge which includes eddy current, thermography, and ultrasonics. The complementary superposition of these three inspection techniques produces a rigorous Orbiter certification process that can reliably detect the array of flaws expected in the Shuttle's heat shields. Sandia Labs produced an in-situ ultrasonic inspection method while NASA Langley developed the eddy current and thermographic techniques. An extensive validation process, including blind inspections monitored by NASA officials, demonstrated the ability of these inspection systems to meet the accuracy, sensitivity, and reliability requirements. This report presents the ultrasonic NDI development process and the final hardware configuration. The work included the use of flight hardware and scrap heat shield panels to discover and overcome the obstacles associated with damage detection in the RCC material. Optimum combinations of custom ultrasonic probes and data analyses were merged with the inspection procedures needed to properly survey the heat shield panels. System features were introduced to minimize the potential for human factors errors in identifying and locating the flaws. The in-situ NDI team completed the transfer of this technology to NASA and USA employees so that they can complete "Return-to-Flight" certification inspections on all Shuttle Orbiters prior to each launch.
As part of the FAA's National Aging Aircraft Research Program to foster new technologies for civil aircraft maintenance and repair, use of bonded composite doublers on metal aircraft structures has been advanced. Research and validation of such doubler applications on U.S. certified commercial aircraft has begun. A specific composite application to assess the capabilities of composite doublers was chosen on a L-1011 aircraft for reinforcement of the comer of a cargo door frame where a boron-epoxy repair patch of up to 72 plies was installed. A primary inspection requirement for these doublers is the identification of disbonds between the composite laminate and the aluminum parent material. This paper describes the development of an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique using a modified immersion focus transducer where a robust signal amplitude signature of the composite/aluminum interface is obtained to characterize the condition of the bond. Example waveforms and C-scan images are shown to illustrate the ultrasonic response for various transducer configurations using a boron-epoxy/aluminum skin calibration test sample where disbonds and delaminations were built-in. The modified focus transducer is compatible with portable ultrasonic scanning systems that utilize the weeper or dripless bubbler technologies when an ultrasonic inspection of the boron-epoxy composite doublers installed on aircraft is implemented.
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