Aircraft Maintenance and Repair Techniques - Paper Example

Introduction

It is a vital element to ensure adequate maintenance programs are put in place in damages evaluated. Air-crafts work under tight schedules which is usually time bound. In this manner, it is difficult to quickly detect defects easily and carry out the required maintenance in time that agrees with the commercial aircraft operations (Abdel-Latif, 2009).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Non Destructive Testing (NDT) is a technique that uses noninvasive methods to determine the integrity and structure of the materials and components making up a device without causing harm or damage to the devices. The characteristics of an object are qualitatively measured during the inspection. NDT is an economical way for performing checks as it can detect cracks as well as irregularities in the structure of air-crafts and the engine components which would be hard to visualize using our eyes.

Air crafts are made of different types of materials such as aluminum alloy, steel, and titanium. It would be difficult to dismantle all this to examine each component of the aircraft. It would, on the other hand, be time-consuming. NDT makes it possible to do all this in a fast and more effective way giving a high degree of quality and reliability of the inspection program.

Methods

Various methods are used in NDT testing programs which include liquid penetrant, the use of eddy current, application of magnetism, ultrasonic, use of visual and optic techniques, infrared thermo graphic technology and application of radiography that is the use of x-rays and gamma rays.

These methods are useful in product development and can be used to screen and sort incoming materials to detect internal flaws, monitor and improve the manufacturing processes, to evaluate proper assembly of tools and components and inspect for any in-service damages that may occur in the aircraft. The methods make it possible to detect flaws in the planes such as leakage detection and even location determination of the defect.

Discussion

Visual and Optic Techniques

It is the most common and basic inspection technique that makes use of tools such as the fiber-scopes, magnifying, lenses, microscopes, borescopes, and mirrors. These are used in the detection of defects found on aircraft surfaces and structural damages of all the materials. The optical instruments are useful in the detection of errors in internal areas and deep holes such as the landing gears.

They are used in monitoring the engine components such as the compressor vanes and blades the turbines and the wheels without necessarily opening the engine parts. It is an easy method to use and usually very economical. The methods enable magnification of defects that cannot be visualized with the naked eye. They inspect flaws and even allow access to areas not visible to unaided eye. The use of robotic crawlers is vital in observation of hazardous and very tight regions such as the reactors and air ducts (Parnasov & Dobromyslov, 1997).

The magnifying lenses used usually consist of both single lenses and high power magnification having double lenses making it possible to create greater magnifications for detection of minute defects in the aircraft components. The magnifying mirror is also used to view restricted regions of the plane since it is usually fitted with a concave reflective surface. The microscope contains a multiple of magnifying lenses that provide even a higher magnification power. It is vital in the inspection of parts that are in this case removed from the aircraft and may be used to evaluate the extent of the defect in the suspected components.

The method makes use of optical instruments such as the bore-scope that contains built-in illumination techniques. It includes robust optical systems with high light intensity and ability to provide magnification as well as zoom abilities that enable visualization of components closely. The flexible optic bore-scope allows for manipulation of the instrument around corners (Zhu et al., 2011). It can also be used in pipes and tubes having different directional changes. It is coupled to woven stainless steel that is designed to protect the image during repeated shifts from one angle to the other.

The image video image-scope is another tool important in visual NDT. It contains video cameras that are connected to a display panel usually a monitor. The images obtained from this can be magnified to desired sizes to bring in precise viewing which enables visualization of even the small flaws in the aircraft components.

Conclusion

The nondestructive testing methods offer an efficient and cost friendly method for detection of aircraft defects in-plane components making it simple to come up with the corrective mechanisms for the defective parts on. It is time-saving as the repair engineer do not necessarily have to dismantle the other nondefective components when effecting the repairs. The optical instruments play vital roles in defect detection and with improved technology such as the use of flexible borescopes and video image-scopes, such processes are now even more accessible as they allow remote inspection of areas that are usually inaccessible in the typical setup.

References

Abdel-Latif, A. M. (2009). An overview of the applications of NDI/NDT in engineering design for structural integrity and damage tolerance in aircraft structures. In Damage and Fracture Mechanics (pp. 93-100). Springer, Dordrecht.

Zhu, Y. K., Tian, G. Y., Lu, R. S., & Zhang, H. (2011). A review of optical NDT technologies. Sensors, 11(8), 7773-7798.

Parnasov, V. S., & Dobromyslov, V. A. (1997). NDT methods, equipment, and technology for polymer composite products. Measurement techniques, 40(11), 1076-1083.