Detecting Crack Nucleation/Damage Mechanisms In Sea-Based Aviation Environments Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Topic No.: N121-099 Topic Title: Detecting Crack Nucleation/Damage Mechanisms In Sea-Based Aviation Environments Proposal No.: N121-099-0435 Firm: X-wave Innovations, Inc. 407 Upshire Circle Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878-5238 Contact: Dan Xiang Phone: (301) 948-8351 Web Site: www.x-waveinnovations.com Abstract: To address the US Navy's need for an innovative nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technique to detect the onset of crack nucleation in wet and dry corrosion environments under various stress fields and gradients. X-wave Innovations, Inc. (XII) along with Loyola University Maryland (LUM), proposes an innovative ultrasonic NDE technique for in-situ detection of crack nucleation under various stress fields and gradients. The proposed approach is based on Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM), which is capable of providing high resolution images of both surface and internal cracking damages in metallic materials. By incorporating acoustic microscopy with a loading system and confined corrosive environments, the proposed SAM technique will enable an analytical study that captures material degradation at both global and local levels in corrosive environments to provide a framework of damage mechanisms of the crack tip chemistry and chemical kinetics at the micro scale level. In Phase I, XII will develop a prototype and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. In Phase II, XII will complete a working prototype that meets all requirements specified in the SBIR topic. Benefits: We anticipate the proposed NDE system has many market applications in different industries such as the aircrafts, ships, power generators, and advanced new material research, etc. The total market will increase in the future because the fundamental understanding of corrosion mechanism will not only help better structural and metal alloy design for new systems, but also indentify immediate remedial actions for current corrosion and SCC in the existing mechanical systems. Early detection of crack nucleation is invaluable for gaining understanding of structural and material response, damage initiation, progressive damage, and ultimately limit state attainment in many important material systems. The proposed research provides a great support for validation and optimization of the material/structural system design and CAD models as well as for improvement of product reliability. Such a system will benefit the enhancement of the lifetime and durability and the reduction of failure risk of a product. Return