THE APPLICATION OF THE TIME-OF-FLIGHTDIFFRACTION INSPECTION TECHNIQUE ON

GRP STRUCTURES
Johann Oosthuizen
Chris Stanton
Zach McCann
AEA Technology plc, PO Box 4416, Edenvale 1610
Tel: (011) 450 2324, Fax: (011) 450 2327, email: aeat@worldonline.co.za

ABSTRACT
Time-of-flight-diffraction (ToFD) is an ultrasonic inspection method originally
developed by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) for the nondestructive evaluation of components in the nuclear industry. The method relies on
the diffraction of ultrasonic energies from 'corners' and 'ends' of internal structures
(primarily defects) in a component being tested.
ToFD is now recognised as the most rapid, versatile and reliable method of ultrasonic
NDT available to industry today. ToFD was originally developed as a method of
accurately sizing and monitoring the through-wall extent of welding defects and inservice flaws, primarily in steel components. Maurice Silk, its inventor, released the
first report for publication in 1974, stating the main principles of the technique. These
original principles have not needed revision since, which is a clear indication of the
integrity of the technique.
AEA Technology has now adapted the ToFD technique and developed inspection
procedures to locate, identify and size defects in glass reinforced plastic (GRP)
structures. The procedures cover defects such as delamination, flange cracks,
fractures, cracks, tears, incorrect lamination, disbonding, lack of adhesive, material
degradation, porosity & voids, inclusions and foreign bodies, and incorrect
dimensions.
Tests have shown that ToFD can accurately identify and size defects in GRP
laminates of practical construction and thickness. The technique also allows for layup verification, as it is possible to identify the individual layers in the laminates.

INTRODUCTION
Overview of NDT techniques [1]
In general all of the conceivable NDT techniques available for the inspection for
defects/flaws in Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs) have been researched,
developed or applied in practice. From the various information searches it would
appear that there are 3 NDT techniques for composites that are currently most
prevalent in the literature: these techniques are ultrasonics, thermography and
shearography. Note that this reflects current R&D effort and a different set of NDT
techniques would be selected on the basis of practical application in the field.
The ultrasonic inspection technique has by far been the subject of the majority of
these activities and reflects the belief that the technique has the potential to address
most of the inspection problems presented by PMCs. Ultrasonics is seen as the only
reliable technique for the inspection of thick composite laminates. Ultrasonics is the
principal technique used for the inspection of adhesive bonds in PMCs and there are
many examples of use of the ultrasonic technique for the inspection of a variety of
bonded components (e.g. bonded doubler plates on aircraft, automotive
components). The ultrasonic NDT technique is regarded as a relatively fast
inspection technique, however, large area in-service inspection applications require
careful consideration. Unlike inspection during manufacture (when insertion or
squirter coupling methods can be readily applied), in-service inspections need to
consider the effective coupling of the ultrasound into the component and the
scanning of the inspection site. The display of inspection results can be very
powerful and informative, in particular the data presentation of a C-scan inspection
revealing delaminations in a composite laminate.
Thermography is also very well advanced as an inspection technique for PMCs, in
particular for the inspection of thin laminates. The attraction of the technique lies is in
the speed of inspection, however, the capabilities of the technique to reliably detect
the range of expected defects/flaws in PMCs, and its application to thicker laminate
structures, is not fully understood.
Another rapid inspection technique, shearography, appears to be capable of
inspecting large areas in real time and is being practically used for the inspection of
composite structures and pressure vessels. Shearography senses out-of-plane
surface displacements in response to an applied load, the surface displacements
being indicative of flaws/defects in the material. The most effective means of
applying load to the structure has been found to be thermal and surface vacuum
techniques and a number of propriety systems now exist for shearography
inspection.
However it is questionable whether shearography is yet sufficiently
developed to be considered a practical field inspection method.
In addition to these 3 externally applied techniques there has been considerable work
undertaken into the research and development of embedded devices (e.g. fibre
optics, embedded piezoelectric transducers etc.) used for the health monitoring of
composite structures.
It is anticipated that this approach to the in-service
inspection/integrity measurement of composites will continue to be developed in
parallel with the improvements in the capabilities and understanding of the popular
NDT inspection techniques.

The Time of Flight Diffraction Method

The ToFD technique uses a single probe pair in a transmitter-receiver arrangement.
Longitudinal probes are usually applied for transmitting and receiving the ultrasound
through the material that is being inspected (Fig. 1).
When the ultrasound is incident at linear discontinuity such as a crack, diffraction
takes place at its extremities in addition to the normal reflected wave. This diffracted
energy is emitted over a wide angular range and is assumed to originate at the
extremities of the flaw. This is in marked contrast with conventional ultrasonic
techniques, which rely on the amount of energy reflected by discontinuities.

Fig. 1. The ToFD principle

The ToFD method detects a surface (lateral) wave travelling directly between the
probes and also a backwall echo from energies that reach the back of the testpiece
without interference from defects. The diffracted signals are received via the receiver
probe and are evaluated with the Ultrasonic System to greyscale images (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Greyscale image of a ToFD scan

The study of this phenomenon has led to the successful use of the ToFD method on
metallic components for:
Flaw Detection: as signals may be recorded from a range of flaws;
Flaw Sizing: since the spatial (or time) separation of the diffracted waves is
directly related to the height of the flaw.

Application of an adapted ToFD method to GRP Laminates.

AEA Technology (SA) has now adapted the ToFD technique and developed
inspection procedures to locate, identify and size defects in GRP structures. This
was accomplished through extensive experimentation with probe settings and
manipulation. In order to verify the accuracy of the ToFD technique when inspecting
GRP laminates test pieces with representative defects were manufactured.
Test laminate 1 consisted of 20 layers of 450g/m2 CSM with a NCS 901PA-resin
system. Delaminations and foreign objects were included in the laminate and with
the size and laminar positions recorded. The manufactured defect positions are
presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Laminate Defect Schedule
Layer
Manufactured Defects
2
Delamination (55mm)
Metal inclusion (2 23mm)
4
None
6
None
8
Metal inclusion (35o/d 19i/d)
10
Delamination (10550mm)
12
None
14
Delamination (95mm)
16
None
18
None
20
None

Other Defects
3 mm slot 4 mm deep
10 mm slot 7 mm
deep
18 mm slot 7 mm
deep

The ultrasonic inspection trials were performed using standard ToFD equipment used
for the examination of plates and piping. The ToFD probes were operating in the
Pitch and Catch mode with a semi-automated encoding system. The Microplus unit
was set to capture A-scans every 0.5mm over the full length of each scan. Data
capturing was carried out across the defects from both sides of the plate.
The scans produced using the ToFD equipment were able to adequately image the
artificially induced delaminations, foreign bodies, machined notches and the
mechanically induced delamination which had been worked into the test laminate.
The orientation of the scan did not affect the results achieved. Typical inspection
data obtained from the inspection technique is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Greyscale image of Defects within a GRP Laminate

During the analysis of the grey-scale image the type of defects can be identified. The
dimensions and depths of the flaws in the test laminates could be determined by
making use if the Microplus processing facilities. Identification of the defects are
shown in Fig. 4 with the defect sizes presented in graphical form in Fig. 5.

Fig. 4. Defect identification

The through-thickness dimensions shown are consistent with the layer number at
which the defects were placed.

Fig. 5. Dimensional data obtained from the Grey-scale image

Other applications in the GRP industry

Laminate verification: The inspection technique allows individual layers within the
GRP laminate to be identified from the images obtained during the inspection.
The inspection technique could therefor be used as a laminate lay-up verification
method.
Detection of debonding of the lining: Since it is possible to detect significant and
abrupt shifts in the backwall, the technique can be used to locate the debonding
of linings.
Nozzle-to-shell cracks and delaminations: Specific probe and scanner set-ups
can be achieved for complex geometry items by manufacturing job-specific probe
holders to enable the equipment to focus within the area of interest.

References
1. Generic procedure for the Ultrasonic Inspection of FRP Composites, Draft
document by AEA Technology, National NDT Centre, UK, August 2000.