Another Step Forward for LBI

LSP Technologies, Inc. is supporting an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) funded project as a subcontractor to The Boeing Co.  Also involved in this project are Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and Southwest Research Institute.  The project is to define the capability of Laser Bond Inspection (LBI) to evaluate or assess bond strength of adhesively bonded composite structures by conducting sufficient testing on bonded panels to define the statistical variation of LBI.  The objective is to determine the capability of LBI to differentiate between different strength levels in the adhesive bonds and LBI’s value as an inspection tool during initial manufacturing of bonded structures.
The Boeing Co., under contract from AFRL is leading the effort to establish LSP Technologies’ Laser Bond Inspection system.  Boeing and LSPT both have an LBI system and will perform independent testing of several bonded composite panels fabricated by Boeing under controlled conditions with specific bond strengths.  Each bonded panel will be tested by both Boeing and LSPT.  The results of this program will provide significant progress towards establishing the limits of LBI’s detection capabilities and another step towards increasing its technology and manufacturing readiness level.  The work is being undertaken with the major bonded composite structure industry stakeholders cooperating on the design of the test matrix and meeting the requirements of all the stakeholders.  Contact David Lahrman for more information at dlahrman@lspt.com.