Laser-based ultrasonic inspection of complexly contoured composite and metallic structures for aerospace applications

Previously, the applicability of laser-based ultrasonic techniques for the automated inspection of polymer-matrix airframe structures, having either flat or contoured geometries, has been demonstrated without restriction to large radii of curvature. More recently our LBU inspection capability has been extended to include higher spatial resolution for the inspection of complexly contoured metallic structures. In this paper, progress regarding the application of LBU to the inspection of complex geometry polymer-matrix composite structures and metallic rocket engine components is summarized.