Modern production processes use more and more components made of new materials like carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). These components have different sizes, functionalities, high assembly complexity and high security requirements. In addition optimized joining processes, especially during welding are implemented in manufacturing processes. The increasing requirements during the manufacturing of complex products like cars and aircrafts demand new solutions for the quality assurance. The main focus is to find a measurement strategy that is cost effective, flexible and adaptive. The extension of the conventional ultrasound technique for non destructive testing with the laser ultrasound method brings new possibilities into the production processes for example for the inspection of small complex CFRP-parts like clips and the online observation during seam welding. In this paper we describe the principle of laser ultrasound, especially the adaptation of a laser ultrasound system to the requirements of non destructive testing of CFRP-components. An important point is the generation of the ultrasound wave in the surface of the component under investigation. We will show experimental results of different components with complex shape and different defects under the surface. In addition we will present our results for the detection of defects in metals. Because the online inspection of welded seams is of high interest experiments for the investigation of welded seams are demonstrated.

Date Published: 18 June 2007
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 6616, Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection V, 66163J (18 June 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.732043

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6616:
Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection V
Wolfgang Osten; Christophe Gorecki; Erik L. Novak, Editor(s)