Composites Affordability Initiative

AFRL and Boeing have developed an innovative structural inspection technique for testing bonded structures. This technique provides materials engineers a first-time, validated, nondestructive capability to test for weak adhesive bonds and determine the minimum strength of adhesively bonded aerospace structures. The new method will enable aircraft designers to use bonded structures in a wider range of applications, and industry analysts predict it will provide both a 25% reduction in fabrication and assembly time and a 75% reduction in life-cycle costs.