Brookhouse offers full in-house NDT

Brookhouse offers full in-house NDT

Brookhouse offers full in-house NDT

Keywords: Inspection, Ultrasonic engineering, Components

With the installation of a state-of-the- art, jet probe ultrasonic inspection system at its purpose-built composites engineering building in Darwen, Brookhouse Holdings can now offer total, in-house non-destructive testing of both manufactured and repaired composite components and structures.

The new jet probe, or squirter, system uses a column of water (the jet) to provide the ultrasonic coupling where immersion is not possible and offers a working envelope of 6 x 2 m. Inspection takes place using the well-established ultrasonic through transmission technique. On line display and on line reporting can be in C-scan format for non-structural or structural components and results can be electronically archived at customers' request. An A-scan facility, using through transmission or pulse-echo techniques, is also available to provide back-up for C-scan results or to carry out inspections that do not require a permanent electronic record to be archived. Inspection is carried out on a routine basis to ensure that finished components are free of material flaws such as disbond, voids, inclusions and delaminations.

The new equipment, which was supplied by Midas NDT Systems Ltd, is used as part of the company's quality control procedures to carry out stringent examination of composite components and structures manufactured by Brookhouse. It is also used in the inspection of aircraft structures and components, which have been repaired by Brookhouse in line with EASA Part 145, a qualification held by two companies within the Brookhouse Group allowing them to repair and overhaul aircraft composite and metallic components in compliance with the airworthiness codes set out by the European Union.

Brookhouse's composites engineering building is located within the company's India Mill factory complex at Darwen. In addition to a range of ultrasonic inspection equipment, the building also features two autoclaves to complement the three existing computer controlled units at the India Mill site, allowing the company to treat an extremely wide range of composite components, in terms of both size and geometry. There is also a state-of-the-art clean room, which has been constructed to Class 2, 100k standards to meet the exacting requirements of the aerospace industry. With a total floor area of 850 m², the clean room features continuous temperature and humidity monitoring, regular dust and particle count monitoring and integral, positive pressure changing and loading areas to prevent particle ingress.

Brookhouse Holdings plc encompasses a number of companies, which together provide the expertise, facilities and resources in design and manufacture to meet the extremely high demands of today's aerospace sector and the general engineering industry. This total capability includes the production of all aspects of tooling in both composite materials and metals, the precision engineering of tooling, jigs and fixtures, and the manufacture and repair of composite and metallic components to international approval standards.

Details available from: Brookhouse Holdings Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 1254 706000.