Sources Sought for Development of NDE Methods for Aircraft Rotating Assemblies

https://www.fbo...b=core&_cview=0

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is calling for industry input on
inspection techniques to better protect against uncontained engine failures.

This project supports the development of improved nondestructive evaluation
(NDE) techniques for critical rotating components of aircraft turbine engines.
These rotating components store tremendous amounts of rotational and inertial
energy and pose a serious safety threat when fractured components release
high-velocity disk fragments capable of penetrating the aircraft fuselage. As the
aviation industry moves toward incorporation of damage tolerance concepts in
the design and maintenance of propulsion systems, more challenging fatigue
crack resistance and inspection requirements emerge. A number of specific
advances in NDE capability, reproducibility, and reliability are needed to support
future critical rotating components that many not necessarily conform to
traditional design.

A 5-year NDE Technology Development Plan has been developed by FAA and
will be used to identify specific research and development tasks. The Plan is
divided by application into 5 categories:

1. NDE Method Development
2. NDE of Materials
3. NDE of As-Manufactured Parts
4. NDE of In-Service Parts 5. POD of NDE Methods

Each of these categories is focused on addressing both near-term and long-
range NDE technology needs. NDE Method Development addresses advancing
the development of ultrasonic and eddy current methods for application on
both as-manufactured and in-service components. In addition, it addresses the
need to develop automatic defect recognition tools to minimize operator impact
on inspection reproducibility and reliability. NDE of Materials centers on
evaluation of properties such as residual stress, bond joint strength, and
residual fatigue life of nickel and titanium rotor alloys. NDE of As-Manufactured
Parts concentrates on follow-on programs to the current FAA effort on NDE of
manufacturing anomalies, including refinement of promising inspection
methods or process monitoring to minimize generation of manufacturing
process anomalies. NDE of In-Service Parts is aimed at development of new or
modified surface defect inspection techniques to replace or augment the
current fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI). The POD of NDE Methods looks at
developing analytical models and solutions for quantifying the POD of the
growing number of inspection methods that produce images rather than simple
numerical results.

The purpose of this BAA is to solicit interest in the form of research proposal
briefs from the NDE community. These 2 page briefs should offer practical and
achievable solutions to the inspection-related challenges posed by the next
generation of jet engines. These challenges include but are not limited to these
following areas identified in the FAA 5-yr Plan:

a. A Sonic IR task that continues to develop the NDE process in preparation
for production implementation.

b. New NDE techniques capable of evaluating the bond joint strength and
mechanical integrity of advanced engine rotating components such as BLISKs
and Dual-Alloy Disks.

c. Fast, low-cost, large area inspection methods to detect surface anomalies
in in-service critical rotating components. Proposed methods should be more
cost effective than current eddy current methods with the capability to detect
30 X 15 mil crack size anomalies with a 90/50 probability of detection.

d. Development of computer generated data analysis algorithms that
automatically evaluate amplitude and signal-to-noise rejections without
operator intervention. Development of this capability for inspections such as UT
of forgings, EC image analysis, Sonic IR image evaluation, and FPI image
analysis. A series of programs is envisioned, each aimed at developing
computer driven auto defect recognition for one of the previously mentioned
NDE methods.

e. New sensors for monitoring a complex machining process, such as
broaching, to minimize the possibility of producing a manufacturing induced
anomaly in the finish machined component.

f. Development of NDE techniques capable of quantifying the residual stress
profile in a shot-peened Nickel component to depths of 0.015" or more.

g. Develop new and innovative approaches to POD data analysis techniques
and curve generation from image producing NDE methods. h. Develop a NDE
method capable of identifying Titanium material susceptible to dwell time
fatigue.