Air Force Corrosion Prevention and Control Office Turns the Corner on Corrosion Prediction

E M A I L : a m p t i a c @ i i t r i . o rg Introduction The Air Force Corrosion Prevention and Control Office, located at Robins AFB, GA, and operated by the Air Force Research Laboratories’ Materials Directorate recently achieved a major milestone in demonstrating an aircraft corrosion prediction program. The AF Corrosion Prevention and Control Office accomplishes its mission by ensuring Air Force maintenance organizations receive first class training, tools, and material for corrosion prevention / repair of existing USAF aircraft, and by ensuring manufacturers use only the best corrosion resistant materials and processes in construction of new USAF aircraft. The only difficulty with this approach is it leaves the impression every single instance of corrosion attack is found and treated on every aircraft that goes through the maintenance process. As aircraft age, the amount of effort required to achieve this sort of assurance becomes greater and greater. As a result, corrosion maintenance costs on some of the USAF’s older aircraft have more than doubled within the past ten years. In addition, structural integrity analysis has to some degree been predicated on the assumption that no corrosion exists within the structure. The basic tenants of minimizing the impact of corrosion through proper training and ensuring best materials and processes remains sound. However, aging systems have forced a more realistic view that many systems are and will be flying with undetected and untreated corrosion. Therefore, two years ago the corrosion office undertook a multifaceted effort to assess the growth of corrosion in existing aircraft structure and its effects. Although the program had many important elements, the main technical hurdle to overcome was, “What are the corrosion growth rates in various environments?” If growth rates could be provided, then an engineering assessment of future corrosion could be made. Mr. Richard Kinzie of the corrosion office seized upon a promising new technology (Super-conducting QUantum Interference Device or SQUID) to provide this important element. This technology was previously developed through AFOSR funding as a Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) method and was Volume 3, Number 2