Abstract
This paper presents the failure analysis of aircraft antenna which is a sub-assembly of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) used with Air Traffic Control (ATC) transponder. The base of the damaged antenna (metallic part) is made from Al-based alloy. The micrographs exhibit the typical solidification microstructure consisting of Al-rich matrix along with Si- and Mg-Si-Fe- rich phases. The antenna is coated with the paint consisting of three layers. First and third layers display the presence of Ti and C while second layer consists of Si, Cr and C elements. The small amount of oxygen is also present in all the three layers. The cracks are appeared in the central region of the fin due to impact of external objects (appears to be blankings and particles). Three types of foreign object damage particles are observed on the damaged / hit area. The antenna appears to be damaged during gale as a result of hitting of the large particles lying in aircraft parking area and aircraft engine blankings.
Highlights
The growth of airline industry has taken place exponentially during last decade
This has resulted in the development of advanced traffic collision and avoidance system (TCAS) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), other countries’ Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs), and the aviation industry after many years of extensive research, developments and flight evaluation [1,2,3]
Microstructural attributes of failed aircraft antenna in both the un-damaged and impact mark regions have been investigated
Summary
The growth of airline industry has taken place exponentially during last decade. The increase in number of aircrafts has added to the risk of mid-air collision. The antenna, which is part of TCAS, is employed in aircraft assembly to receive and transmit signals. It can be classified as navigation and communication depending on the application. Microstructural Characterization of Failed Aircraft Antenna The TCAS assembly functions independently of ground based ATC and provide collision avoidance protection [8]. The TCAS antenna offers a directional reception of radio signals from ATC transponders of other aircraft. A sub-assembly of TCAS which is an Omni-directional antenna used with ATC transponder has been received in damaged condition. This has been employed to transmit and receive aircraft code and altitude. Manda et al (2018): International Journal of Engineering Materials and Manufacture, 3(4), 171-181
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