<title>Infrared thermographic inspection of superplastically formed/diffusion-bonded titanium structures</title>

Abstract

The increasing complexity of aerospace structures necessitates the development of advanced Nondestructive Inspection techniques/methods while current economic pressures require these inspections to be performed at lower costs. To this end, an automated infrared (IR) thermographic inspection system has been developed for the inspection of Superplastically Formed/Diffusion Bonded (SPF/DB) titanium structures. The IR thermographic system has demonstrated high reliability, while reducing inspection costs over conventional ultrasonic and radiographic inspections. A robotic system moves a radiometer through a series of preprogrammed locations where thermograms are collected and stored. The thermograms are then assembled into a continuous image for viewing on a scrolling CRT or output as a continuous plot. Aspects of the IR thermographic system, evaluation results from SPF/DB inspections, and potential applications to other advanced structures will be presented.