HDV250 by Starrett: digital clarity, optical‑comparator simplicity, audit‑ready results
New from Vision Engineering: Evo Cam Aura 4K digital microscope for faster, repeatable quality control
Bespoke solutions for your unique application challenges, designed for ultimate precision, efficiency and productivity. Visit our resources centre to learn more.
Discover the latest generation of optical inspection and metrology solutions. We ensure your measurement process is accurate, reliable, and repeatable, every time.
We believe purchasing equipment is just the start. We offer accredited calibration, service, training, and repair packages tailored to your ongoing needs.
Our Engineering and Technical Sales teams have a wide-ranging skill set, designed to deliver intelligent solutions for production metrology and inspection.
Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) components are increasingly common in the Aerospace and Automotive industries due to their excellent mechanical properties, most notably their high strength to weight ratio. CFRP components are manufactured by laying several uncured resin/fibre plies on top of each other. Once lay-up is complete the material is cured, fusing the plies and giving the material its final properties. Prior to final assembly, it is often necessary to drill fastener holes in CFRP components which can result in a separation of the plies, known as delamination. This delamination can create weakness and result in premature part failure and is a major cause of costly part rejection in manufacture. This report, from the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) was undertaken to help industry develop economic methods of controlling drilling-induced delamination.
CFRP delamination is a serious problem for airplanes in service as it can significantly impact the structural integrity. It can be caused by several factors, the most common being:
Impact damage: This can be a result of a foreign object such as hail or ground service equipment, commonly referred to as Barely Visible Impact Damage (BVID)
Fluid Ingress and Icing: If water enters the structure through small cracks and around fasteners and freezes the expansion can cause layers to separate leading to delamination.
Fatigue and Stress: Load and unload cycles experienced during flight can cause defects to grow, leading to delamination.
Internal damage inspection can be by carried out via NDT techniques such as ultrasonic testing, tap testing or eddy current testing, while external damage can be visually inspected. However, this is often subjective and does not provide any metric data.
The 4DInspec is a handheld optical profiler designed to measure surface level defects on all surfaces, including CFRP. It will measure defects from 5µm to 9mm deep with a field of view up to 15mm x 15mm with a vertical resolution between 2.5 µm & 7 µm (model dependent) and automatically calculates key defects such as maximum height, volume, and area, Slopes and location, Defect density and aspect ratio.
Contact Optimax to arrange a demonstration.
Delamination due to the drilling of composite material is a widespread problem within the aerospace industry. The high-quality output of the Bruker Alicona μCMM system, coupled with its ability to rapidly scan multiple holes, allows for the opportunity to develop a reliable automated method of hole delamination inspection.
High performance stereo zoom optics that wont break the bank
Toolmakers' Measuring Microscope
High quality rigid Borescopes competatively priced and come in the highest range of viewing angle combinations.