Vibrant Brings Its Revolutionary Resonance Nondestructive Testing To Airbus
Patented technology used to test 3-D additive manufactured parts
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 16, 2020 /CNW/ -- Vibrant today announced a partnership with Airbus to employ its revolutionary Process Compensated Resonance Testing (PCRT) on additive manufactured Airbus A350 door latch shafts. Airbus Helicopters recently shifted from manufacturing the parts via traditional machining to more advanced 3-D printing additive manufacturing. Vibrant's solution is currently under investigation to allow the aircraft manufacturer to save considerable time and cost while ensuring same quality final products.
"Vibrant's PCRT allows Airbus to quickly and economically test every single part at the end of each of the four steps of manufacture, which in turn allows for early detection of anomalies and cost savings," said Thomas Köhler, managing director of Vibrant. "The current industry practice for testing these parts calls for several nondestructive and destructive testing processes. PCRT is planned to reduce this effort and uncover quality deviations during manufacturing process.
Vibrant's proprietary PCRT measures the resonance frequencies of whole parts, combining the collection of broadband resonance data in the ultrasonic frequency range with advanced pattern recognition to produce an accurate, fast, and automated nondestructive inspection. The pattern recognition and scoring tools return an automated PASS/FAIL result that requires no operator interpretation, allowing for rapid, confident testing.
Running in parallel with Airbus' current computed tomography (CT) nondestructive inspections and destructive coupon testing, Vibrant will develop a fingerprint to show the similarity of each part to what is qualified as a normal part. Once developed, these baselines will be used by Airbus to test each part after every step of manufacture.
"Additive manufacturing is a new and exciting technology being embraced by many companies around the world," Köhler said. "Companies are learning how to make this a productive part of their operations. The PCRT program helps them reduce testing and waste costs while increasing end part reliability."
The Vibrant PCRT program will run at Airbus for a six- to eight-month trial period to demonstrate its efficiency, accuracy, and cost-savings.
About Vibrant
Vibrant's whole part inspection approach is changing how aerospace, automotive, and power generation markets conduct nondestructive testing (NDT). Our revolutionary Process Compensated Resonance Testing (PCRT) measures resonance frequencies through whole parts, allowing customers worldwide to test every part and significantly increase final product quality. PCRT applications range from quality assurance and process capability assessment for OEMs to in-service structural assessment and life monitoring for MRO organizations. With facilities in the U.S. and Europe, Vibrant is AS9100 Rev C and ISO 9001:2008 certified.
For more information visit www.vibrantndt.com.
For Media Inquiries:
Lisa Sifuentes
Aerospace Marketing Lab
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (480) 580-5726
SOURCE Vibrant Corporation
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