Detection of microbumps in aeronautic surfaces by means of an elastical Moire system

Abstract

We provide a simple solution for the particular problem of the in-service inspection of aeronautic surfaces in order to detect bumps that otherwise it is made visually and usually less reliably. Bumps and other surface defects can be a symptom of a more serious internal damage. We have extended the use of the well know shadow Moire technique to be implemented in convex curved surfaces. The use of flexible Ronchi grating allows its adaptation to a convex general surface. The effect is the contrast enhancement of only the small defects sweeping-off other misleading height profile fringes. The result obtained are quite satisfactory compared to the use of flat reference gratings. The experimental set- up consists of a plastic foil with a printed Ronchi grating stretched between three points which adapts to nay cylindrical or conical convex surface independently of the relative grating-surface orientation. Static quantification of defects profiles is also possible by means of with an attached CCD camera. Visual detectability of local surface structures lye in the range of approximately 30 micrometers in depth.