Phased array ultrasonics

Structural material

External quality assessment

Quality assurance

Engineering

Reliability engineering

Aerospace engineering

Infrared

Systems engineering

Telecommunications

Civil engineering

Computer science

Antenna (radio)

Product testing

Radiology

Aerospace

Mechanical engineering

Physics

Optics

Shearography

Operations management

Thermography

Medicine

Phased array

Nondestructive testing

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Composite materials/structures are advancing in product efficiency, cost-effectiveness and the development of superior specific properties. There are increasing demands in their applications to load-carrying structures in aerospace, wind turbines, transportation, and medical equipment, etc. Thus robust and reliable non-destructive testing (NDT) of composites is essential to reduce safety concerns and maintenance costs. There have been various NDT methods built upon different principles for quality assurance during the whole lifecycle of a composite product. This paper reviews the most established NDT techniques for detection and evaluation of defects/damage evolution in composites. These include acoustic emission, ultrasonic testing, infrared thermography, terahertz testing, shearography, digital image correlation, as well as X-ray and neutron imaging. For each NDT technique, we cover a brief historical background, principles, standard practices, equipment and facilities used for composite research. We also compare and discuss their benefits and limitations, and further summarise their capabilities and applications to composite structures. Each NDT technique has its own potential and rarely achieves a full-scale diagnosis of structural integrity. Future development of NDT techniques for composites will be directed towards intelligent and automated inspection systems with high accuracy and efficient data processing capabilities.

Non-destructive testing and evaluation of composite materials/structures: A state-of-the-art review