Award Data

In this proposal, AlphaSense, Inc. (AI) and the University of Michigan (UM) detail the development of a novel automated and controlled dual laser ablation system for selective chrome removal. The key innovations of this proposal include the following: a) The combination of ns- and fs- laser ablation to quickly remove the chrome plate, while minimize the collateral damage to the substrate, b) The u ...

Thermal barrier coatings have been widely used to provide thermal protection to superalloy components in gas turbine engines. After certain amount of service time, the coating experiences a reduction in thickness by processes such as wear, erosion and foreign/domestic object damage. When the thickness decreases below a critical value, the thermal barrier effect provided by the coating is no longer ...

ABSTRACT: Casting parts with intricate internal surfaces are routinely used in many gun systems. It is important to inspect those casting parts to ensure the inner structures comply with the original design during the first article testing and production lot certification. Currently, inspections of inner surfaces are often done with borescopes, which is time consuming, labor intensive, and costly. ...

ABSTRACT: After a certain amount of service time, many aircraft components need to be cleaned and the coatings on those parts need to be stripped. Prior to the chemical cleaning and stripping processes, those parts are routinely examined by inspectors to locate the part numbers and find their matches on a list. Such a visual inspection process is not only time consuming, but also prone to human er ...

In this proposal, AlphaSense, Inc. details the development of a novel, low cost and handheld microwave sensor for the detection and evaluation of incipient composite heat damage. The merits of the proposed sensor and its advantages over other techniques are listed below: a) Compact, handheld and low cost, b) Sensitive for incipient heat damage detection, c) Capable of quantitative analysis of the ...

Due to their high specific strength and light weight properties, polymer matrix composites (PMCs) are increasingly used in a wide variety of military and civilian aircrafts. The mechanical strength of PMCs can be dramatically compromised when such materials are exposed to various heat sources during operation and maintenance. It has been shown that PMCs can lose up to 80% of their mechanical stren ...

In this proposal, Alphasense, Inc. details the development of a novel microwave NDE sensor for defect inspections in silicon nitride bearing balls. The key innovations of this proposal include the following: a) the use of the spherical bearing ball as a dielectric resonator, thus enabling us to correlate the resonance characteristics of the bearing ball with various defects; b) the measurements in ...

In phase I, we have proven the feasibility of using the microwave cavity perturbation technique to detect and quantify DoS in marine aluminum alloys. We implemented an alpha version sensor prototype, characterized and validated its performance using ASTM G67 method. We also identified methods to further enhance the sensor sensitivity, so that DoS in the low (a few mg/cm2) to moderate range can be ...

In this proposal, AlphaSense, Inc. (AI) and the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) detail the development of a novel noninvasive microwave sensor to quantify the DoS in marine aluminum alloys. The key innovations of this proposal include the following: a) DoS quantifications based on the correlation between the surface resistivity with the microstructures of the aluminum alloys, b) measurements o ...

In this proposal, AlphaSense, Inc. details the development of a novel sensor for pitting corrosion monitoring and load distribution measurements. The key innovations of this proposal include the following: a) corrosion and load distribution measurements based on the electrical impedance measurements, b) the application of electrical impedance tomography technique to efficiently image the impedance ...