Nondestructive Evaluation of FRP Composite: A review

Technological developments have made composite materials capable of being used in a wide range of new applications. FRP Composite materials offer numerous advantages to civil and aerospace engineers, especially in areas such as in strengthening structures, primary and secondary aircraft components that are safety critical. There are almost certain types of defects in composite materials, including voids, inclusions, debonding, improper curing, and delamination. In order to maximize their usefulness, these defects should be accounted for properly. In the case of polymer composites, NDT testing is used to detect and characterize polymer defects. Studies showed that the technique is deterministic when it comes to the degree of acceptable defects. A number of specialized nondestructive tests are required to detect and characterize the variety of defects, like Acoustic emission (AE) testing, Microwave detection, Impact-echo (IE) method, Digital image correlation technology and Ground penetrating radar (GPR) are some process which are used to evaluate the defects.