Lighter planes means less fuel, means less money and, hopefully, lower ticket prices. Carbon fiber reinforcements are an enormous component to this plan; both Boeing’s latest bird and the double-decker Airbus make liberal use of the sunshine and robust composite. However, they don’t seem to be without their very own dangers; minute amounts of water can get into the carbon fibers, which then form ice at high altitude, damaging the fiber structures. This kind of miniature damage is — unlike aluminum versions — very difficult to identify. Embarrassingly, the engineers’ best bet to detect the ruined fibers until recently was to tap at the composite structures with a small hammer and listen for a hollow noise that may signpost water damage.
EADS , which is dependent upon carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for its own Airbus fuselage, has now created an ultrasonic gun which may detect this damage. This sonic screwdriver is in a position to detect and visualize these invisible problems by bouncing pontificate the plane’s surface and, well, it’s like that hammer test, but a heck of much more precise. The corporate hopes to ready the device for normal use by the top of next year.
Sprint launches New Ventures arm, adapts ID and Zone apps for foreign markets
Proton and Yes team as much as offer Malaysia’s first 4G-connected car, promise more to return
