Portable Light-Weight Laser Ultrasonic System for Multi-Purpose NDT, Phase I

This STTR Phase I project describes the development of a high-performance, robust, portable, and compact laser ultrasonic system for multi-purpose Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE). Laser ultrasonic has now become a valuable tool for on-line inspection, demonstrating its advantages in the steel and aerospace industries. Non-destructive laser ultrasonic inspection equipments use large size laser components. They are not designed for light-weight, portable and power sensitive applications. Currently, NDE of space transportation vehicles is primarily carried out on the ground, between missions but for future space missions, more inspection will need to be performed in space in order to monitor the aging process of the structure and to insure its integrity. For inspection during space flight, the NDE equipment must be compact, lightweight, easily operated by human with limited mobility or robot, and exhibits low power consumption. To satisfy these requirements we proposed to develop a laser ultrasonic inspection system integrating an amplitude-modulated continuous wave laser source for high efficiency generation and a multi-channel random-quadrature interferometer for robust and highly sensitive detection. The proposed system takes advantage of fiber technology for both the generation and the detection in order to achieve a compact, portable and versatile inspection system.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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