Element Hitchin Completes Pioneering Aerospace Test Study

Element’s Engaged Experts were part of a consortium that comprised participants from industry-leading names, including Spirit Aerospace, LMS SamTech and Wavelength NDT. The team successfully demonstrated proof-of-concept to automatically integrate NDT inspections into damage tolerance evaluations for composite materials. This required the development of new technology to ultrasonically scan composite aerospace structures, which could then interrogate scanned information and digitally map data directly into a finite element analysis code, allowing for the instant evaluation of any defects.

The results of the study have wide-ranging implications for Primes and supply chain partners, who could immediately determine the viability of parts during the manufacturing process and streamline operations. The technology can also be applied in-service, to evaluate whether component damage should affect the status of an aircraft and whether it can continue to operate or if it requires repairs.

Rick Sluiters, Element’s VP of Europe Operations, says: “Though not yet commercially available, this breakthrough is significant and exciting news for the Aerospace industry. The capability to integrate these two materials tests could provide a real competitive advantage to our partners seeking production and operational efficiencies.

“Element Hitchin’s important contribution to this research demonstrates the incredible knowledge and expertise spread across our 40 laboratories and 1,400 staff and is yet another example of the company’s continued involvement in world-class innovations when testing materials,” he concludes

Conducted over a period of 18 months, the proof-of-concept project was partially funded by the British Government’s Technology Strategy Board, which invests in technologies with the greatest scope to improve business, the economy and society.