Composites Inspection and Repair

Steve Kane Adjunct BCC Aerospace Technology In conjunction with SpaceTEC

Topics
Introduction Composites Review

Characteristics Materials Fabrication Techniques Composites Safety Shop Safety

Inspection Damage Identification Repair Techniques

Outline
Introduction Composites Inspection and Repair Day 1 PowerPoint Lecture: Composites Characteristics, Materials, Fabrication Techniques, Composites Safety, Shop Safety, Inspection, Damage Identification, Repair Techniques Lunch Lab Project 1 Composite Sandwich Construction

Day 2 Review, Project Assessment Lab Project 2 Damage Inducement, Core Repair, Scarf Repair Technique Lunch Exam, Discussion, Certificate

Introduction

Purpose:
Inspection and Repair Workshop

Follow-on to Introduction to Composites Provide knowledge of and a practical application for

inspection of composites and repair of damages

Intended to be advisory in nature Repair data provided by OEM manufacturers, qualified

engineers, and/or regulatory agencies must be consulted in any inspection and/or repair method

Composites Review

Definition of Composites

From Introduction to Composites:

What are Composites?

Two or more materials working together

Each contributes its own structural properties Each retains its unique identity Two major components:

Reinforcing Fiber ceramic strong but brittle

Matrix (glue) plastic tough yet flexible

How They Work

How do they work?

Individually:
Fiber reinforcement strong, stiff, but brittle Matrix tough, elastic, but lacks rigidity

Together = strength, stiffness and toughness, a superior material!!

Types

Three Basic Types:

Natural occurs in nature

Wood

Artificial produced from naturally occurring materials to improve on natural

Adobe Plywood Concrete

Synthetic produced from artificial materials to improve on artificial

Fiberglass Graphite (Carbon) Fiber Aramid (Kevlar)

Characteristics,

cont.
Specific Strength:

Advantages, cont.
Specific Stiffness:

Advantages

Advantages of Composites:

Do not corrode Smooth surfaces relatively easy to achieve Many manufacturing methods available:
Hand layup, Vacuum bagging, Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), Pultrusion, Filament winding, Resin infusion

High strength/stiffness-to-weight ratios possible

4-10 times that of metals

Structures can be tailored to meet specific applications

Orienting fibers to carry specific loads

Limitations

What are their limitations?

Fiber reinforcement prone to cracking Brittle nature means little or no elasticity

Sudden failure at yield point Works as stop-drill would in aluminum Not much chance all cracks will line up Shear forces bog down Solid ground moves freely Softer ground more resistance

Matrix mitigates brittleness

Bicycle Analogy

Disadvantages

Disadvantages:

Labor intensive Special training needed Raw materials expensive Manufacturing equipment expensive Health and safety concerns for materials Cannot be recycled Little or no warning before failure Some materials may not be compatible with metals
Galvanic Series

Carbon (noble) and aluminum (active)

Weave Patterns
Plain Weave
One over and one under every other yarn Provides fabric stability The least pliable, least strong weave

Basket Weave
Similar to plain but two warp yarns over and under More pliable and stronger than plain

Crowfoot (Four-Harness Satin)

More pliable, easier to form on compound curves Three yarns over and one yarn under

Weave Patterns
Five-Harness Satin (5HS)
Similar to Crowfoot but one more filling yarn, 4 over and 1 under More pliable than crowfoot

Eight-Harness Satin (8HS)

Similar to 5-harness except one yarn floats over seven and under one Very pliable weave and has good drape Great for compound curve surfaces Most expensive weave

Weave Patterns

Weave Patterns

Textile Terminology
Warp Direction
Parallel to the Long direction of the roll Also defined as parallel to the selvage edge

Fill Direction
90 degrees to the Warp direction Selvage edge to selvage edge Sometimes called Weft direction

Selvage Edge
Tightly woven edge to prevent edge raveling Parallel to warp threads

Bias
A 45 degree angle to the warp threads Fabric can be stretched along the bias but seldom along warp

Textile Terminology

Textile Terminology

Fiber Orientation
Advanced Composites are by design
Orientation of fibers is proportional to properties The more fibers in a given direction, the stronger and
stiffer Unidirectional (0) degrees for tension, compression, or
bending Bidirectional (+/- 45s) degrees for shear Control fiber angles +/- 2 degrees

Sandwich Construction Enhances performance by placing the load carrying

fibers on the outside of the part

Common Layup Terms

Symmetry
A laminate in which all of the ply orientations are symmetrical about the mid-plane of the laminate

Common Layup Terms

Balance
A Balanced laminate has equal numbers of + and angled plies

Common Layup Terms

QuasiIsotropic
A laminate laid up with an equal number of plies at 0, +45, -45, and 90 angles

Common Layup Terms

Nesting vs. Stacking
Placing plies so the fibers of one ply align with the yarns of the adjacent ply Only possible with harness-satin weaves

Shop Safety

Environment
Working Environment:
Good housekeeping directly impacts safety Keep area neat & orderly Properly dispose of mixing containers Keep fabric remnants swept up Wipe up spills, keep tools clean Do not block access to safety equipment

Personal Safety
Personal safety while sanding or drilling:
Respirators must be worn Wear shop coat to minimize particles entering pores of skin Use eye protection Always shower at the end of the day after working with composites

Shop Safety
Compressed air in the shop area
Moisture is your enemy!
Check moisture traps often

Air Tools
Flexible lines can take on a life of their own if unsecured Disconnect tools from air supply before changing cutters, sanding discs and drills Point the exhaust away from other people

Never blow surfaces with compressed air!

Causes projectiles Can cause delaminations

Use a brush or vacuum for cleaning parts, machines, and work tables

Tool Safety
Tool Safety
Use Eye Protection
Safety glasses with side shields are a must

Wear dust mask when cutting, drilling, sanding

NIOSH-rated

Cutting
When Cutting:
Keep hands, fingers away from cutting surfaces

Razor Knives
Very sharp, use caution

Tool Safety
Tool Safety, cont.
Drilling
When Drilling:
Back up materials Dont use your hands! Always know what is behind Never force drills! Will cause breakouts on other side Can disbond laminate-to-core interface Use high speed, low pressure Let the bit do the work!

Tool Safety
Tool Safety, cont.
Sanding
When Sanding:
Wear eye protection/dust masks

Work in a suitable area:

Down-draft tables Exhaust systems

Clean up debris:
Clean up before tracking around Wash hands before eating or using the restroom!

Sandwich Structures
Sandwich structures:
Combination of strong, thin skins and a relatively light core material Very efficient structures with high stiffness-toweight ratios Also called honeycomb

Chief purpose of core:

Passes shear forces between the skin surfaces Allows substantially improved structural properties in thicker sections with only slight increase in weight

Sandwich Structures
Typical sandwich structures:

Sandwich Structures
Disadvantages of sandwich construction:
Sandwich structures have thin skins that can be easily damaged by even minor impacts. Susceptible to moisture intrusion:
Can cause unintentional weight gain Freezing may cause disbonds (if subjected to lower temperatures of higher altitudes) If core becomes contaminated with oil, fuel or hydraulic fluid, it is virtually impossible to remove completely and must be replaced

Sandwich Structures
Honeycomb
Form most commonly used in aerospace
Made from Nomex (aramid paper), fiberglass, or aluminum Fire retardant, flexible and lightweight Offers best strength-to-weight ratio

Cell shape
Most common is hexagon, known as Hex Core
Suitable for flat panels Difficult to curve

Sandwich Structures

Sandwich Structures
Manufactured honeycomb core:
Core

direction is important:

L is ribbon, strong direction W is weak direction

Sandwich Structures

Over-expanded during manufacture A flattened hexagon Easily curved in ribbon (L) direction

Sandwich Structures

Capable of compound curves Used for radomes and nose cones More expensive than Hex or Ox-Core

Sandwich Structures
Foam Core
Offers higher density than honeycomb Greater crush resistance Bonds to skin are less strong Must be cut and shaped to fit Common types
Polystyrene Polyurethane Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Foam Core
Polystyrene Foam
Used extensively in sail and surf board manufacture Light (40kg/m3 ), inexpensive, easy to sand characteristics Low mechanical properties
Rarely employed in high performance component construction

Cannot be used with polyester resin systems

Will be dissolved by the styrene present in the resin

Foam Core
Polyurethane Foam
Moderate mechanical properties
Foam surface at the resin/core interface tends to deteriorate with age
Leads to skin delamination

Can readily be cut and machined to required shapes or profiles Structural applications limited to formers to create frames or stringers for stiffening components Used in lightly loaded sandwich panels
Thermal insulation

Foam Core
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Foam
Closed-cell construction Good mechanical properties One of the most commonly used core materials for high performance sandwich structures Good solvent resistance Will work with most available matrix materials Can be formed in compound shapes at elevated temperatures in vacuum mold

Foam Core
Syntactic Foam
Mixture of microspheres (miniature glass spheres), epoxy resin Mixture ratio controls strength and density
Can use high-strength microspheres, toughened resins Can become heat-resistant with addition of high temperature resins

Used primarily as a non-structural filler material Can be used in foam core repairs

Wood Core
Balsa Wood
Excellent structural core material Low cost, easy to use Can have moisture problems Can burn in a fire
Used less in aviation due to FAA flammability requirements

Used primarily in marine construction

Inherent floatability

Shaping
Cutting Foam:
Hot Wire Cutting
Easiest method for foam cores Care must be taken with smoke

Band saw
Can be used with miter for angled surfaces

Razor knife
Hand finish, trim work

Shaping
Sanding:
Lightweight material is easy to sand, shape Can use belt sanders, hand sanders Foam core materials can be sanded with another piece of like foam

Machining Composites
For drilling, cutting, sanding or grinding of composite materials
Do not use cutting fluids as fibers may absorb them Do not use same cutting tools on graphite and Kevlar Drilling and countersinking Delamination, fracture and breakout are types of failures

Machining Composites
Delamination
Peeling away of the bottom layer as the force of drill pushes the layers apart

Fracture
Occurs when a crack forms along one of the layers due to the force of the drill

Breakout
Occurs when the bottom layer splinters as drill completes the hole

Separation
Occurs when gap opens between layers as The drill passes through successive layers

Machining Composites
The material being drilled should be backed with wood whenever possible to prevent these problems! When exiting the back side of a hole with a drill, very light or no pressure should be used. dont push drill through, Let It Cut! This will prevent delaminations.

Machining Composites
Carbide drill bits will work on all types of composites. They also last longer than standard steel drills. Drill motor speed is important High speed works best Do not use excessive force Dagger or spade drills can be used. They reduce the tendency of the fibers to break rather than be cut

Machining Composites
Hole Saws
Use special Diamond Dust cutting edges

Band Saws
Special Diamond Dust or carbide blades 12 To 14 TPI

Machining Composites
Fasteners
Composi-lok Must be made of titanium or corrosion resistant steel Aluminum fasteners must not be used because of tendency to corrode the aluminum

Inspection and Damage Identification

Inspection
Why Composites Inspection?
Much larger percentage of Composites in the world today Need to detect discontinuities that may lead to premature failure

Boeing 787 fuselage section

Composite Damage
Composites fail in a different manner than metals: Catastrophically, with little or no warning!
American Airlines Flight 587; Airbus A300-605R, November 12, 2001, on a flight from New Yorks JFK airport to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Composite Damage

Airbus A-300-308 aircraft experienced control difficulties shortly after takeoff. After returning to the origin airport, it was discovered that the majority of the Airbus' rudder had torn away from the vertical stabilizer.

Composite Damage
Space Shuttle RCC Panel Testing, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, TX May, 2003
Before Simulated Foam Strike: After Simulated Foam Strike:

1.7 lb. Bipod Ramp

Composite Inspection
Two Classifications of Inspection
Nondestructive Inspection
Visual Ultrasonic Infrared Shearography Thermography

Destructive Testing
Coupon testing

Visual
Simplest nondestructive technique for inspecting laminates
Identifies surface imperfections:
Impact damage (scuffing, chipping, surface cracking, or crazing) Near-surface delaminations (appear as bulges) Severe disbonding (damage appears white) With access to back side, illumination will make internal defects such as delaminations visible as dark or grey areas Main tool for visual inspections: Good light source
Low incident-angle illumination

Visual
Visual Guidelines:
1. Become familiarized by examining the applicable diagram/drawing. 2. If necessary, remove surface coat around damaged area. 3. Examine tactily by running hands over surface of suspect damage area to feel for surface imperfections and anomalies. 4. Dimple and dent damage is similar in appearance to hail damage on a metal surface. 5. Delamination and disbonding are more difficult to detect: Sometimes it is possible to feel this type of damage by pressing on the area. May feel soft and movement between the separated layers may be detected.

Visual
Visual Guidelines, cont.:
6. Use a back light to reveal internal defects and delaminations. Examine exposed laminate for stress whitening. 7. If possible, the backside of the suspected area should be examined. 8. A borescope can be a helpful tool for examining interior areas. Interior surfaces are usually not painted and damage to glass-fabric structures will show up as a white area. 9. Use a Sharpie to mark suspect areas to facilitate a coin tap test. Note: Paint will generally crack before damage occurs in a laminate, therefore cracked paint does not indicate the extent of the damage, only that damage may have occurred.

Acoustic
Manual Coin Tap Test Primitive Most common method for hidden damage Hearing-based, manual test practiced widely in the aircraft industry Used to determine laminate damage in a composite Acoustic sounds are produced when a small metal object is tapped on a surface Looking for clear, sharp sound Dull thud indicates a void or delamination

CATT
Computer-Aided Tap Test (CATT)
Automated:
Quantitative and imaging capabilities added Removes "human factor" responsible for variation Magnetic cam-action cart provides equally-spaced uniform taps Simple encoding method gives imaging capability. Effective for both composite and metal honeycomb structures. Quantitative inspection results in the form of images that can be archived electronically.
David K. Hsu, [email protected]. http://faculty.washington.edu/scottcs/NSF/CNDE_14.pdf

Ultrasonic
Three main methods of ultrasonic testing:
Pulse Echo:
High frequency sound waves are introduced into a material and are reflected back from surfaces or flaws.

Through Transmission
High frequency sound waves are introduced into a material by a transmitter on one side and detected by a receiver on the other.

Pitch/Catch
High frequency ultrasonic energy is transmitted at any angle to the surface of a material and received as reflected energy returning at the reflected angle.

Pulse-Echo
Reflected sound energy is displayed versus time, and

the inspector can visualize a cross section of the specimen showing the depth of features that reflect sound.

initial pulse crack echo back surface echo

flaw Specimen
0 2 4 6 8 10

Oscilloscope, or flaw detector screen

Pulse-Echo
Advantages:
Can be performed with access to one side only f Can detect disbonds and delaminations deeper inside structure than tap testing Can give information about defect depth, down to which ply in many cases

Limitations:
Requires rather expensive portable equipment and a welltrained operator Difficult to cover large areas in a reasonable time
More suitable for small areas

Does not work well with core materials

Through Transmission
This method is used for nondestructive testing of multi-layered laminates.
f

Transmitting Transducer Couplant

Sound waves

Material

Receiving Transducer

Pitch - Catch
Used primarily for cylindrical tubes and other nonlinear parallel sided surfaces, the pitch-catch method can determine depths of flaws in material as well as detect the location in the X-Y plane. f

Shearography
Nondestructive inspection technique using interferometry to measure the phase difference between light waves traversing different paths
Laminate disbonds Voids

Basic Principles of Shearography http://www.shearography.com/

Thermography
Nondestructive inspection technique using infrared light and an infrared camera to detect discontinuities
Video image is taken as parts are heated and cooled
Uses thermal differences to gather information about the part Core to laminate bonds Ply delamination
3-Dimensional Temperature Profile of an Impact Damage Zone on a Composite Pressure Vessel as Viewed by Infrared (IR) Thermography. Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) of Composite Structures
NASA-White Sands Test Facility http://www.wstf.nasa.gov/Enable/Composites/NDE.htm

Radiography
High frequency, short wavelength radiant energy
Excellent for metallic inclusions Effective for finding water trapped in honeycomb Not good for delaminations parallel to the plane of the X-ray image Expensive equipment and training Safety requirements

Damage Classification

Types of Damage
Damage classifications: Cosmetic damage - a defect on the outer surface that does
not involve the structural reinforcement (fibers). Usually only chips or scratches

Impact damage - occurs if struck by a foreign object or

from careless handling during transportation or storage. Penetrating - includes fractures and penetration through the laminate.

Non-penetrating - includes abrasions, delaminations,

surface impact, or gouges through one laminate surface.

Types of Damage, cont.

Damage classifications, cont.:
Solid laminate damage - structural or non-structural
damage which extends beneath the surface protection and affects the solid laminate structure underneath. Three types: Delamination - separation of layers of material in a laminate. Cracks - can occur in advanced composite structures, just as in metallic ones. Hole Damage - may occur from improper drilling techniques, over torqueing fasteners, or as a result of pull-through.

Types of Damage, cont.

Damage classifications, cont.:
Secondary bond damage - occurs between two precured components. Could be structural or non-structural in nature.

Sandwich structure damage - damage to composite

sandwich structures. Three types: Laminate only - damage to one side of the sandwich structure only with no core damage. Can be identified using the solid laminate damage classifications. Laminate and core - damage to one side of the sandwich construction and damage to the core. No damage to the opposite laminate surface. Sandwich penetration - damage to both sides of the sandwich construction. Both laminate surfaces are punctured and the foam core is exposed.

Repair Techniques

Preparation
Once extent of damage is known: Prepare Environment:
Make sure the repair area has adequate ventilation. The area must be completely enclosed. Control temperature and humidity.
Min temp: 60 F (16 C); relative humidity > than 46% Max temp: 75 F (24 C); relative humidity < than 71%

Isolate area from machining or other processes that generate dust, oil vapors, or other contaminants. Isolate adjacent surfaces that may come in contact with adhesives prior to application.

Repairs
To ensure a sound repair: Know the ply lay-up information such as ply count and warp clocks
If you dont know the ply count, measure the thickness (one ply is generally between 0.008 and 0.010 inch) and divide by 0.009

Remove surface contaminants with solvent Remove surface coatings (paint/gel coat) mechanically.

NEVER USE PAINT STRIPPERS!

Repairs, cont.
Removal of core damage If damage has occurred to core material, it must be removed first, using a hole saw Step-cutting (Scarfing) To accomplish the proper step-cuts in the laminate, each successive layer of fiber must be removed. Great care must be exercised to avoid further damage Cleaning All Repairs Must Be Cleaned After Sanding. Use Vacuum And Solvent. DO NOT USE COMPRESSED AIR!

Repairs, cont.

Sanding technique using vacuum source

http://www.cirrusdesign.com/downloads/pdf/mc/mc20060801.pdf

Summary
Weve talked about:
What Composites Are Characteristics, Advantages and Disadvantages Materials Composites and Shop Safety Composite Damage, Inspection, and Repair

Any Questions?

Acknowledgements:
Maria Clinton and Gary Eisenberg, Antelope Valley Community College, Lancaster, CA David K. Hsu, [email protected]. Joe Escobar, Composites: Tips for working on Cirrus composite structures. www.amtonline.com/publication/article.jsp Ultrasonic Testing of Aerospace Materials http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/llis/0765.html Lee T. Ostrom, Ph.D., CSP, CPE, Cheryl A. Wilhelmsen, MS; Detectability of Dents in Composite Materials, http://www.airlines.org/NR/rdonlyres/A6DADE79-6D1440F8-8403-BB1AA43B699A/0/Wed1130a_LeeOstrom.pdf