Forum Documents:
[listyofiles folder=”wp-content/gallery/CompositeInspectionRepair” options=”table,icon, date” sort=”date”]
The Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG) and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) would like to thank you for your participation in the “Composite Inspection & Repair” a two hour virtual technology forum conducted on 16 December.
Your continued participation in these monthly technology forums is an important part of exchanging maintenance technology information across DoD and supporting activities.
The Composite Inspection & Repair successfully served as a vehicle to exchange information on component material inspection and repair technologies that are ongoing and the continuing DoD efforts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of legacy processes.
Purpose: The purpose of the forum was to share the experiences, challenges, successes, and benefits of DoD efforts in component material inspection and repair capabilities. The forum discussed a variety of approaches and technologies that the military Services are pursuing.
Welcome: Greg Kilchenstein, OSD(Maintenance) opened the forum with a welcome followed by a brief explanation of the collaborative purpose of the Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG) and described the monthly technology forums. Forums are held on the last Tuesday of each month and generally focus on a specific technological capability such as cold spray repair, laser coating removal, and additive manufacturing.
Administrative: The presentations, along with questions and answers, were conducted through Defense Connect Online (DCO) and an audio line. Over 60 participants from across DoD and industry joined in the forum. Questions were sent through DCO and answered by the presenters during the forum. This forum was restricted to Government personnel and government support contractors in accordance with Distribution D restrictions. Please send requests for copies of the presentation slides to the appropriate presenter listed below. This summary and Q&A (attached) will be posted on the JTEG website at https://jteg.ncms.org/.
Background and Introduction: Greg Kilchenstein stated that although traditional composite inspection and repair techniques have been around for a number of years, there are ongoing efforts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of legacy processes. He also pointed out users’ requests to move composite inspection and repair to the lowest possible levels, and that we need faster and more precise NDI to decrease repair times, improve quality, and improve safety.
Greg Kilchenstein, OSD stated the following three takeaways:
- Aligning composite inspection and repair with the JTEG charter.
- Addressing concerns and answer questions from a wider community –what is driving the technology?
- Serve as advocates and leverage what organizations are doing.
USAF Composite Inspection & Repair Capabilities: James Mazza, Ed Bartling, and John Brausch of AFRL reiterated that baseline composite inspection and repair processes are fairly mature, and they described current composite repair and inspection technique. Also, they emphasized the Air Force and others are currently evaluating inspection and repair processes for advanced materials and structures. Some of the USAF needs described include reduced inspection and repair times, meeting functional as well as structural requirements, and on-component cure of high-temp repair materials. Major challenges cited include field level training for NDI, and the difficult and lengthy path to the certification process.
NAVAIR Composite Inspection & Repair Capabilities: Kristine Obusek (FRC-East) began her presentation by stating that high temperature repair of composites is currently a big issue. She then proceeded by briefing a project involving the repair of advanced composites with a new environmentally benign cyanate resin. She described the technical approach and the results achieved using supporting data and photos. For more information, please contact Kristine directly.
Army Composite Inspection & Repair Capabilities – Greg Mellema and Kimberly Cockrell (Advanced Composites Lab, AMRDEC), provided updates of on-going projects including examiner certificates, Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) composite repair facility renovation, and updates of manuals. They also described potential future projects such as the AH64E tail boom, and described industry trends with suppliers and OEMs. They then identified some existing technology gaps, their composite inspection and repair needs and a few opportunities for collaboration. Greg stressed the need for integration on potential future projects.
NAVSEA Composite Inspection & Repair Capabilities: Scott Bartlett (NSWC-Carderock) described some uses of composites in the Navy to include the construction and fabrication of masts, deckhouses, and hull structures. He also briefed composite repairs of aluminum ship structure. Scott provided some detailed explanations of NDE Inspection of Composite Structures to include documentation and methods. He stated a few NDE inspection challenges such as the historical use of visual and ultrasound for NDE of composites and large surface areas of some individual parts. He followed this with a description of the types of composite repair and some of the issues experienced such as limited availability of fabricators.
Closing Comments: Greg Kilchenstein thanked the panel for their participation and was excited to hear about ongoing collaboration efforts such as the Composite Maintainers Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) of defense composite maintainers and offered OSD(MPP) and JTEG support. He noted that more energy should be directed at standardizing repair processes and would like to see more expansion of wet layup repairs. He suggested that there was still work to do involving the integration of advanced NDI tools with existing tools, and that the community needs more consistent contractual language. He stated that he would like to start to coalesce around some joint requirements. Lastly, he said this was a great effort and suggested we consider a next effort during the TIM meeting in June 2015 at Eglin AFB.
Next JTEG Technology Forum: 3 Feb 2015, 1300 – 1500 EST, “Electronic Point of Maintenance Repair Aids”
Contact Information for Presenters:
James Mazza (USAF, AFRL), james.mazza@us.af.mil, (937) 255-7778
Kristine Obusek (NAVAIR, FRC-East), kristine.obusek@navy.mil, (252) 464-7159
Greg Mellema (Army, AMRDEC), greg.m.mellema.CIV@mail.mil, (256) 313-3037
Scott Bartlett (NAVSEA, NSWC-Carderock), scott.bartlett@navy.mil, (301) 227-2388
Greg Kilchenstein (OSD-Maint), gregory.j.kilchenstein.civ@mail.mil, (703) 614-0862
Should you have any questions or require additional information please contact Ray Langlais, rlanglais@lmi.org , (571) 633-8019.