UCS technology for corrosion detection in aircraft being tested on the Cantabrian and Atlantic coasts.

The U-CROSS project enables monitored displays to launch exposure testing under real atmospheric conditions.

The U-CROSS project is calibrating ultrasonic corrosion sensors (UCS) for real-time detection of localised corrosion on aluminium alloys, intending to study anti corrosion primers and the depletion of inhibitors. This project, coordinated by CIDETEC Surface Engineering, and integrated by DASSAULT AVIATION, INSA Lyon, MISTRAS, TITANIA and UBFC, aims to validate the technology developed.

In order to test the UCS technology in a realistic scenario, consistent with the exposure environment of aircraft in service, CIDETEC Surface Engineering and TITANIA have set up two atmospheric stations at their facilities. In these stations, an environmental exposure test will be carried out for at least 18 months in two different corrosive environments: the Cantabrian coast (CIDETEC) and the South-Atlantic coast (TITANIA).

Both stations, which are fully operational with atmospheric sensors and acquisition equipment in place, include a frame with a wooden structure in which the samples and the demonstrators for the exposure testing will be installed.

Two years after it was launched, the project, with a budget of € 1.5 million, is now at the halfway point and it have released already some results from indoor tests in laboratory conditions. The environmental exposure test will mark the success of U-CROSS project, thanks to which the aviation industry will be able to solve one of its greatest problems: maintenance and inspection costs. Thus, early corrosion detection will allow future damage to be preventively corrected, saving aviation companies considerable costs.