Detection and classification of defects in composite materials using Sem imagery

Abstract

Composites are one of the most widely used materials in many industries including Aerospace Automotive Energy Sports Medical field Nuclear Industries and Defense sectors The applications of advanced composite materials in manufacturing industries nowadays require a high quality composite material and highly automated manufacturing equipment and for which a thorough quality checking at macro and micro levels is needed Composite materials are prone to a wide range of defects and damage that can significantly reduce the residual strength and stiffness of a structure or result in unfavorable load paths Therefore the evaluation of composites for their flaws is quintessential There are varieties of methods available to evaluate the materials or components Among the available methods Non Destructive methods are an important category owing to their advantages The goal of this research work is to develop a Non Destructive Testing NDT based quality inspection methods for defect detection and classification in composite materials at micro level and to devise methodologies to analyse the strength conductivity and corrosion resistance of composite materials using Scanning Electron Microscope SEM Imagery The defects on the Stainless Steel Molybdenum SS Mo Nano composite coating and Carbon epoxy bipolar plate are estimated from their Scanning Electron Micrographs by using Image Processing algorithms