Non-destructive evaluation of adhesive layer using a planar array capacitive imaging technology

The thermal protection materials for aircraft are usually assembled on the substrate surface by means of adhesion agent. It is very necessary to evaluate the interface bonding quality which has great influence on heat preservation performance. At present, there is still no relatively satisfactory and reliable method for defect detection of cohesive coating. Planar array electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a suitable non-invasive imaging technique when there is only limited access to the targeted object. This research aims to investigate the feasibility of using planar array electrical capacitive tomography for bondline defect detection. In this paper, a planar array ECT system is developed consist of a planar array sensor of 12 electrodes, a capacitance acquisition system and image reconstruction software. The sensor development, simulation of sensitivity map, practical application and imaging reconstruction are discussed. A series of specimens of thermal protection material with man-made defects are tested by the proposed planar array ECT system. The experimental results show that the defect in cohesive coating can be effectively detected and the minimum size can be detected is 10mm×10mm.