A Low-Cost, Hybrid Acoustic-Ultrasonic Technique for In-situ Bondline Condition Monitoring Navy SBIR FY2012.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.2 Topic No.: N122-125 Topic Title: A Low-Cost, Hybrid Acoustic-Ultrasonic Technique for In-situ Bondline Condition Monitoring Proposal No.: N122-125-0813 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) and structural health monitoring (SHM) technique for in-situ monitoring of bondline integrity for composite structures, X-wave Innovations, Inc. (XII) and Drexel University (DU) propose a low-cost, hybrid acoustic-ultrasonic technique (HAUT). The enabling NDE/SHM technique will allow the in-situ monitoring of the integrity of bondline, including composite to composite bonding and composite to metal bonding, from production to operation. For the Phase I program, XII will focus on prototyping a system and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed HAUT technique. By the end of Phase I, we will show a working version of the HAUT prototype and have its performance evaluated. For the Phase II program, XII will refine the prototype system design and development with improved hardware and software. At the end of Phase II, we will deliver a final HAUT prototype to the Navy for further evaluation. For the Phase III program, XII will focus on collaborating with our commercial partners to improve the HAUT technology and package it into to a turnkey commercially-available system. Benefits: We anticipate the proposed HAUT system has many market applications in different industries such as the aircrafts, ships, power generators, and advanced new structure/material system design, etc. In-situ monitoring of bondline condition is invaluable for gaining understanding of structural and material response, damage initiation and progression, and ultimately limit state attainment in many important composite structures. The proposed research provides not only an in-situ monitoring tool for those important structures, but also 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