Capacitive imaging for adhesive bonds and quality evaluation.

Defective adhesive bonds pose significant threats towards structural integrity due to reduced joint strength. The nature of the adhesion of two solids remains poorly understood since the adhesion phenomenon is relevant to so many scientific and technological areas. A concept that has been gaining our attention from the perspective of non-destructive testing is the properties discontinuity of the adhesion. Discontinued properties depend significantly on the quality of the interface that is formed between adhesive and substrate. In this research, discontinued electrical properties at the interface are considered. The simplified model is free from multidisciplinary knowledge of chemistry, fracture mechanics, mechanics of materials, rheology and other subjects. From a practical standpoint, this emphasizes the need to establish a good relationship between electrical properties of adhesive bonds and corresponding measurements. Capacitive imaging (CI) is a technique where the dielectric property of an object is determined from external capacitance measurements. Thus, it is potentially promising since adhesive and substrate differ in terms of dielectric property. At the interface between adhesive and substrate, discontinuity of the dielectric properties causes abrupt changes in electric field spatial distribution and thus alters capacitance measurement by simulating defects in adhesive joints regarding permittivity uncertainties. Further understanding of the cause of degraded adhesion quality can be obtained. This article is part of the theme issue 'Advanced electromagnetic non-destructive evaluation and smart monitoring'.

Efficient data acquisition and reconstruction for air-coupled ultrasonic robotic NDE.

Non-destructive evaluation of complex parts using surface scanning techniques, such as ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing, requires complex manipulation of such sensors to ensure quantitative results. A robotic arm may function as a complex manipulator for surface scanning, controlling the position and tilt between the probe and specimen's surface. To ensure accuracy in probe manipulation, accurate geometric information of the specimen is required. This article explores a methodology that uses structured light for physical-to-virtual reconstruction, providing submillimeter scale and accurate surface geometries. Reconstruction aids in path planning through a novel ray-triangle intersection array algorithm, establishing movements for the NDE probe to orient itself on the specimen at a constant probe to specimen surface distance, or lift-off. The proposed technique is demonstrated and validated through experimental air-coupled ultrasonic inspection of automotive CFRP composite samples with simulated flaws such as interlaminar delamination. The proposed method employs guided waves and a pitch-catch configuration of air-coupled ultrasonic probes, enabling single-side access scans. A Fanuc 100ib robot arm was used to manipulate the ultrasonic probes along a sample reconstructed with a CR-Scan 01 structured light sensor. The probes were excited at 200khz from a SonoAir system, while also recovering defect vs background information synchronized with the probe's orientation. Additionally, a framework for potential automation is proposed, with further details to be explored in future works.