Combined Investigation of Eddy Current and Ultrasonic Techniques for Composite Materials Nde

Advanced composites are not without a trade-off. Their increased designability brings an increase in the complexity of their internal geometry and, as a result, possible modes of failure. When two or more isotropic materials are combined in a composite, the isotropic failure modes may also combine. In a laminate, matrix delamination, cracking and crazing, and voids and porosity, will often combine with fiber breakage, shattering, waviness, and separation to bring about ultimate structural failure. This combining of failure modes can result in defect boundaries of different sizes, corresponding to the failure of each composite component. Consequently, more than one NDE technique is needed to investigate the integrity of the composite component.