Composites Group
Special Interest Groups
Reporting to the NDT Technical Committee, the aim of the Composites Group is to promote and advance the science and practice of NDT and CM of composite materials.
Its enabling objectives are:
- To share knowledge via workshops, web-based resources and information for composite inspection problems, in particular, across industry sectors
- To raise the standard of, and standardise, composites training material, syllabuses and, through this, increase the availability of composites-trained NDT operators
- To capture present, and anticipate future, requirements for NDT of composites and enable a route to the solutions via roadmaps for new technologies
- To raise awareness of the problems requiring NDT solutions amongst NDT equipment manufacturers and research organisations
- To develop and maintain a database of composite specimens containing well-characterised defects (working with the National Composites Centre)
- To work with the structural integrity and design communities to identify and define mechanisms through which NDT/CM can enable optimised composite designs
- To pursue workable technique validation methods for NDT/CM of composite materials.
Membership of the group is open to anyone who is a member of the Institute who has an interest in the NDT of composite materials. Membership is free of any additional charge. Non-members of the Institute may be co-opted as non-voting members of the group.
Chairs: L Hayday and G Whalley
Scope of materialsMaterial/structure types
Monolithic
Sandwich
Fibre-metal laminates (for example, GLARE)
Bonded metal/composite hybrid (for example, composite repair patch on metal structure)
3D composites – 3D weave
Concrete
Timber/wood
Bonded joints
Other joints
Reinforcement
Carbon fibres (particles, short and long fibres)
Glass fibres
Kevlar fibres
Silicon carbide (used in titanium matrix composites)
Matrix types
Polymer/Organic (PMCs) – eg thermoset, thermoplastic
Metal (MMCs) – eg titanium, aluminium
Ceramic (CMCs)
Hybrid
Carbon (carbon-carbon composites)
Sandwich core materials
Nomex honeycomb
Aluminium honeycomb
Foam
Balsa
Scope of implementation
| Manufacturing methods | In-service Inspection |
| Pre Preg, RTM | Link to structural integrity design |
| Tape/Sheet | BVID, Access, Impact detection |
| Consolidation | Repair |
| Bonding | Characterisation of defects |
| Co-bonding | Characterisation of surrounding material |
| Hybrid joints | Supporting design of repair, modelling, disposition (concession, repair, scrap) |
| Fastening | Inspection of Repair – Bond to original structure |
| – Repair material | |
Scope of Sectors
| Industrial sectors represented: | |
| Aero-structures | Wind energy |
| Aero-engines | Power generation and offshore renewables |
| Automotive | Raw product manufacturers |
| Marine | Providers of SHM |
| Nuclear | Materials test |
| Oil & gas |
Research and development, transitional and institute representation:
Academia
BINDT
Catapult/Technology Transfer Centres
Communities represented:
NDT
SHM
Structural integrity
Trainers in NDT
End-users
Workshop reports
