Patent ID: 7497115

Claim:
A quality control process for evaluating an adhesive join between a first sub-component and a second sub-component of a composite material structure, the process comprising the steps of: providing at least one premanufactured tested device representative of the first sub-component of the structure, the at least one premanufactured testing device comprising a body having a planar lower surface, a head, and a frangible neck between the head and the body; providing an adhesive between the planar lower surface of said at least one premanufactured testing device and a surface of the second sub-component of the structure; providing a non-adherent release film partially interposed between the surface of said at least one premanufactured testing device and said surface of the second sub-component of the structure; bonding the at least one premanufactured testing device to the second sub-component to form a test joint under conditions that provides the test joint with a quality that is representative of a quality of the adhesive joint of the sub-components; and after bonding, carrying out at least one mechanical test on said at least one premanufactured testing device until either the testing device separates at the frangible neck or the testing device separates from the second sub-component.