Engine Titanium Consortium - Center for Nondestructive Evaluation ...

Project 2:
Task 2.2:
Subtask 2.2.3:
Inservice Inspection
Inspection Development
Transitions to Airline
Maintenance
Engineering Studies of Cleaning
and Drying Process in
Preparation for FPI
Team Members:
HW: Andy Kinney, James Hawkins, Tim
Duffy
ISU: Brian Larson, Rick Lopez, Lisa
Brasche
GE: Terry Kessler, Charlie Loux, Jon
Bartos
PW: Anne D'Orvilliers, Brian MacCracken,
Kevin Smith, Jeff Stevens, John Lively
Students: S. Gorman, L. Rohrhey, and Y. Wang
Program initiation date: February 7, 2000
Objectives:
• To establish a quantifiable measure of cleanliness including the minimum condition to allow
effective inspection processing.
• To establish the effect of local etching on detectability and provide guidance on best practices
for removal of local surface damage from FOD and other surface anomalies.
• To determine the effect of chemical cleaning, mechanical cleaning, and drying processes on the
detectability of LCF cracks in titanium and nickel alloys that would be typical in field run
hardware.
• To update existing specifications to reflect the improved processes and provide best practices
documents for use by the OEMs and airlines.
Approach:
The overall approach to the FPI studies is shown in the following flowchart with details provided in
the text that follows.
Literature and Industry Survey: The effects of cleanliness, cleaning method, and drying method on
penetrant inspectability will be evaluated. As a first step, a review of the literature related to FPI
processes and cleaning and drying methods will be conducted. Literature related to cleaning
processes as well as NDE processes will be reviewed. Existing CASR literature review data will
serve as a starting point.
A survey of current practices used by the OEMs, airlines, and third party maintenance shops will be
conducted to determine the existing “state of the practice”. Potential partners will be identified for
participation in the follow on studies on fielded hardware. A team meeting will be held to identify
the cleaning methods and drying methods to be studied and the contaminants of concern. Other
organizations not participating in ETC will be invited to attend the meeting and coordination with
other relevant programs will be maintained. A design of experiments approach will be considered
in order to optimize the use of the results. A set of 40 specimens, 20 titanium and 20 nickel will be
generated by CASR staff.
Quarterly Report – January 1, 2002 –March 31, 2002
print date/time: 6/6/2002 - 8:39 AM – Page 77