Diagnosis of Composite Materials in Aircraft Applications–Brief Survey of Recent Literature

Diagnosis and prognosis of failures for aircrafts’ integrity are some of the most important regular functionalities in complex and safety-critical aircraft structures. Further, development of failure diagnostic tools such as Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques, in particular, for aircraft composite materials, has been seen as a subject of intensive research over the last decades. The need for diagnostic and prognostic tools for composite materials in aircraft applications rises and draws increasing attention. Yet, there is still an ongoing need for developing new failure diagnostic tools to respond to the rapid industrial development and complex machine design. Such tools will ease the early detection and isolation of developing defects and the prediction of damages propagation; thus allowing for early implementation of preventive maintenance and serve as a countermeasure to the potential of catastrophic failure. In this paper, following a short introductory summary and definitions, this paper provides a brief literature review of recent research on failure diagnosis of composite materials with an emphasis on the use of NDT techniques in aerospace industry. In addition to this, within a some of significant NDT application extents, prognosis of composites is also briefly discussed.