NDT for high-value manufacturing of composites

Non-destructive testing (NDT) underpins much of the UK's manufacturing industry, particularly the high-value and specialist composite-manufacturing industry in which the UK is aiming to significantly expand its market share. Academic composites experts, manufacturers and end-users of composite components all agree that a step change in NDT of composites is required to maximise the weight-saving benefits of high-performance composites and ensure the UK can compete aggressively in future composites manufacturing. The UK's high academic ranking and industrial base in the areas of composites and NDT offer a compelling opportunity for the establishment of a UK-based academic research group specialising in the NDT of composites and aimed at assurance of manufacturing quality and process optimisation. This Manufacturing Fellowship would establish such a group at the University of Bristol, which is ideally positioned both geographically - in the heart of the aerospace manufacturing region - and organisationally, being linked with the National Composites Centre (NCC) and the UK Research Centre for Non-destructive Evaluation (RCNDE). In collaboration with two academic groups at Bristol - Ultrasonics and NDT, and the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) - and the NCC with its industrial partners, the fellowship will demonstrate how focused, industrially relevant, academic research can meet this manufacturing need and bring rapid benefit to the UK composites manufacturing industry. After 29 years of experience in R&D related to the NDT of composites, I have been recognised as an international authority on the subject amongst academics and industrialists alike. World-class research status for this new group is therefore a realistic objective for a five-year fellowship, positioning the group well for expanding by attracting future funding from a range of sources. But the research challenges are significant in this field, due primarily to the way that the anisotropic, inhomogeneous, layered composite structures respond to, and modify, any interrogating field. For this reason the work programme includes underpinning tasks to develop models and novel inversion algorithms, as well as tasks to apply these to complex structures being produced by the UK composites manufacturers. Other particular features of the programme are the work packages on NDT for in-process and pre-process composites, and combining NDT information with materials models and structural integrity philosophies - a holistic approach to using advanced non-destructive 3D-characterisation methods to benefit the composites manufacturing industry. The result will be optimised lighter-weight structures, reduced scrap and fewer repairs at the manufacturing stage, and greater use of out-of-autoclave and lower-cost manufacturing methods.

Who will benefit?

This fellowship will meet real manufacturing needs and benefit, primarily, the aerospace composites and wind-turbine manufacturing industries. 3D characterisation of defects will reduce scrap and repair rates whilst in-process NDT will detect problems prior to the expensive cure stage. The move to capability-provision sales philosophies such as Airbus's 'Flight Hour Services', Rolls Royce's 'Power by the Hour' and Vestas's 'Active Output Management', means these new NDT technologies will provide a higher availability of aircraft, engines and wind turbines.
The National Composites Centre (NCC), a partner in this fellowship, represents its industrial members in transitioning technology. I have already taken the lead in establishing an 'NDT of Composites' programme at the NCC - a rolling programme of NDT validation and qualification as well as standards and training development for new technologies. Currently, 7 composites manufacturers have expressed interest in joining the programme - Rolls Royce, Airbus, GKN, Agusta Westland, Bombardier, BAE Systems and Vestas. The involvement of staff from the partner manufacturers, based at NCC, will play a key role in introducing the new NDT solutions from the fellowship into manufacturing plants, of which NCC is one. The industrial beneficiaries of the fellowship will be involved in guiding the research via a Research Advisory Group (RAG) and the Statements of Support indicate willingness to collaborate in this way.
Industrial, government and academic members of the UK Research Centre for NDE (RCNDE) will benefit from this EPSRC Fellowship in Manufacturing leading the way to bridging the technology-transfer gap between academia and industry. A strong collaborative network between academia and industry has already been established by RCNDE, which is itself run by ex-industrialists who understand the need for research to be relevant, focused on real needs, and usable.

How will they benefit?

The benefit that this fellowship will provide is as follows:
1. Improved quality control and reduced weight through 3D fibre-orientation mapping for complex and large structures.
2. Less scrap, fewer repairs and lighter structures from:
- 3D porosity mapping allowing 3D location-dependent acceptance criteria
- better-informed 'concession' decisions by integrating new 3D-characterisation NDT with materials models.
3. Greater use of lower-cost composite manufacturing methods facilitated by in-process NDT and NDT-based process control.
4. Either reduced-weight designs or the use of lower-cost manufacturing methods (depending on the industry drivers) as a result of a reduced 'BVID' threshold, through either NDT-assisted impact dent detection, or permanently installed sensing technology for reporting impacts.
Also, the travelling public will benefit from improved, faster, cheaper air travel and renewable power, and a greener environment.
Key to the composites manufacturing industry being able to implement new NDT technologies from the fellowship will be the tackling of barriers to technology transfer such as the lack of standards and training material, and the need to validate and qualify automated NDT techniques.
Three routes to bridging this technology transfer gap are through: 1) RCNDE, 2) NCC and 3) influential UK bodies such as the British Institute of NDT (BINDT) and the new NDT-SIG of the Materials KTN.
RCNDE recognises that a significant technology-transfer barrier is qualification of new technologies. This has been neglected in the UK where we rely on foreign expertise for methodologies to determine the reliability of techniques. As a visionary leader within RCNDE I will facilitate change and close the gap between technology push and industry pull.
My presidential role in BINDT will help me to establish a sample library and greater UK involvement in international standards as well as training and certification for new NDT technologies.