This new technology, developed by IPRT's Center for Nondestructive Evaluation and the Airworthiness Assurance Center of Excellence, will aid aircraft technicians in detecting flaws on particular aircraft structures.
Many aircraft structures have a fiberglass skin and honeycomb paper and resin core.
Such parts, including the spoilers on aircraft wings that control stability, are vulnerable to bonding separation and may become damaged without leaving visible signs. The tapper could end the traditional art of tapping a coin on these parts to sense damage by listening for changes in pitch. Connected to a notebook computer, the accelerometer measures the duration of the tapper's impact on an object. The tapper's impact is converted into numerical data and recorded in a Microsoft Excel computer file. The computer then displays the percent reduction in the stiffness of the part resulting from flaws or damage.