Abstract
With the rapid development of material science, more and more workpieces, especially workpieces with complex curved surfaces, are being made of composite materials. Robotic non-destructive testing (NDT) systems for complex curved surface composite material parts are being used more and more. Despite the emergence of such flexible NDT systems, the detection of semi-enclosed parts is also a challenge for robotic NDT systems. In order to overcome the problem, this paper establishes an NDT solution for semi-enclosed workpieces based on a dual-robot system of synchronous motion, in which an extension arm is installed on one of the robots and presents a trajectory planning method that always ensures the extension arm is parallel to the rotary axis of a semi-enclosed workpiece and that the ultrasonic probes are perpendicular to the workpiece surface. Trajectory analysis experiments and ultrasonic NDT experiments utilizing the optimal water path distance determined by simulation result of multi-Gaussian beam model for two types of semi-enclosed workpieces are performed with the dual-robot NDT system. Experimental results prove that the dual-robot NDT scheme functions well and the planned trajectories are correct. All the hole-shaped artificial defects with diameters ≥3 mm are detected by using 2.25 MHz ultrasonic probes through the transmission testing method. Vivid 3D C-scan image of a small diameter cylindrical workpiece based on the testing result is provided for convenience of observation.
Highlights
It is well-known that composite materials are used in various industries, especially in aviation and aerospace industries, due to the desire to avoid corrosion, to enhance impact and fatigue resistance, and to develop lighter structures [1]
Once the data was collected, it was sent to the upper computer software for processing, analysis, and C-scan thethe position-driven data acquisition waswas based on a high-speed robot image display
Ultrasonic equipment in the dual-robot NDT system (DRNDT) system mainly included a couple of 2.25 MHz ultrasonic probes, a pulser(brand model: 5077PR), and data acquisition board
Summary
It is well-known that composite materials are used in various industries, especially in aviation and aerospace industries, due to the desire to avoid corrosion, to enhance impact and fatigue resistance, and to develop lighter structures [1]. The robotic NDT method has many merits compared with those of other NDT methods, sometimes a system with only a single industrial robot is not sufficient to inspect complex curved composite parts with s high ultrasonic attenuation rate, such as carbon fiber materials In this case, the importance of the dual-robot NDT system is highlighted. In order to perform non-destructive testing of complex curved workpieces, Mineo developed flexible trajectory planning software for manipulators in NDT systems based on the MATLAB toolbox [10]. He designed a customized instrument, referred to as FIToolbox, to enable high speed analogue acquisition [11].
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