Damage Detection and Size Quantification of FML with the Use of NDE

Composite materials have been developed in recent years. A new generation of structural composite materials for advanced aircraft is Fibre Metal Laminates (FML). They are hybrid composites consisting of alternating thin layers of metal sheets and fiber-reinforced composite material. FMLs have both low weight and good mechanical properties (high damage tolerance: fatigue and impact characteristics, corrosion and fire resistance).

Quality control of materials and structures in aircraft is an important issue, also for Fibre Metal Laminates. For FML parts, a 100% non-destructive inspection for internal quality during the manufacturing process is required. In the case of FML composites, the most relevant defects that should be detected by non-destructive testing are porosity and delaminations.

In this paper, a number of different non-destructive methods for the inspection of Fibre Metal Laminates were studied. The possibility of quality control of manufactured FML laminates - detection of defects as well as the procedures and processes are presented and discussed