NDE Of Composite Rotor Blades During Fatigue Testing

The introduction of fiber-reinforced composite rotor blades to the Army's inventory has prompted the development of new techniques to assure their structural integrity. This paper will discuss the progress of a program investigating the use of various NDE techniques (primarily acoustic emission (AE) and thermography) to determine the structural integrity of composite structures. The propagation characteristics of typical manufacturing flaws during fatigue loading are being studied. It is expected that these techniques will find usage in new product certification and in-service inspection of nonmetallic rotor blades.