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We apply dual-band infrared (DBIR) imaging as a dynamic thermal tomography tool for wide area inspection of a Boeing 737 aircraft (owned by the FAA/AANC at the Sandia hangar in Albuquerque, NM) and several Boeing KC-135 aircraft panels (used for the round robin experiment conducted at Tinker AFB, OK). Our analyses are discussed in this report. After flash-heating the aircraft skin, we record synchronized DBIR images every 40 ms, from onset to 8 seconds after the heat flash. We analyze selective DBIR image ratios which enhance surface temperature contrast and remove surface-emissivity clutter (from dirt, dents, tape, markings, ink, sealants, uneven paint, paint stripper, exposed metal and roughness variations). The Boeing 737 and KC-135 aircraft fuselage panels have varying percent thickness losses from corrosion. We established the correlation of percent thickness loss with surface temperature rise (above ambient) for a partially corroded F-18 wing box structure (with a 2.9 mm uncorroded thickness) and several aluminum plates (with 1.0, 1.1, 2.3, and 3.9 mm thicknesses) which had 6 to 60% thickness losses at milled flat-bottom hole sites.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Neutron detectors for flight test applications use either a photomultiplier tube (PMT) or a silicon photodiode as a light detector to monitor the light output of scintillation materials. Silicon diodes lack sensitivity, so PMT's are used in most low flux neutron applications. The SA 1690 is presently the only Sandia qualified PMT. It has a complex temperature response requiring the selection of a temperature compensation circuit during assembly to meet accuracy requirements. Results are presented of a study which was performed to evaluate the temperature stability of two other light detectors and to compare the results with the performance of the SA 1690.