It is now possible to reduce the costs and time needed to perform radiography of aging aircraft, space vehicles, and aerospace components. Recent advances in high resolution x-ray detectors, high fidelity low light level camera systems, image enhancement techniques, and robotic inspections have made the use of real time techniques more attractive from the standpoint of reducing film costs, reducing waste products from film processing, obtaining more reliable inspections, and gaining computer assisted interpretations. This paper summarizes ongoing efforts in support of the U.S. Air Force Wright Laboratories to develop a semiautomated high resolution digital real-time radiographic (HRRTR) inspection system to detect anomalous conditions on aircraft structures, turbine engine components, and composite materials. Examples of detection of corrosion and cracking in various aircraft structures using this system are reported.

Date Published: 7 July 1995
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2455, Nondestructive Evaluation of Aging Aircraft, Airports, Aerospace Hardware, and Materials, (7 July 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.213524

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2455:
Nondestructive Evaluation of Aging Aircraft, Airports, Aerospace Hardware, and Materials
Tobey M. Cordell; Raymond D. Rempt, Editor(s)