Nondestructive Evaluation
College of William & Mary
Aloha Airlines disaster
(BIG MPG)
Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is an interdisciplinary field of study which is concerned with the development of analysis techniques and measurement technologies for the quantitative characterization of materials, tissues and structures by noninvasive means. Ultrasonic, radiographic, thermographic, electromagnetic, and optic methods are employed to probe interior microstructure and characterize subsurface features. Applications are in non-invasive medical diagnosis, intelligent robotics, security screening, and on-line manufacturing process control, as well as the traditional NDE areas of flaw detection and materials characterization. Research focuses on questions such as:
- How do fabrication, growth, and/or processing methods contribute to the microstructural character of a particular material or tissue, and, in turn, how do microstructural properties affect overall mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical behavior?
- What measurement technologies can be employed to make quantitative assessments of micro- and macro-structural properties, and what analysis techniques can be used to more fully understand and interpret measurements of the interaction of probing mechanical, electrical, thermal or optical radiation with materials, tissues and structures?
Nondestructive Testing (NDT) is the industrial application of what we do. ASNT has produced a video about career opportunities for technicians who are sometimes the end users for the technologies we develop.
The
focus of our work is to implement new and better measurements with both novel
instrumentation and embedded artificial intelligence that automates the
interpretation of the various (and multiple) imaging data streams.
Thus, at W&M group the term nondestructive evaluation is taken
to mean many seemingly different things for which this is the underlying theme.
Each student’s research typically has application to several seemingly quite different areas, in order to gain meaningful experience in multiple industries. Our graduates have gone on to work in a wide variety of jobs, and many of our current research projects are being done in close collaboration with our former students.
Quantitative NDE enjoys an increasingly important role in both the development and understanding of new advanced composite materials as well as more traditional materials. Its goals are improving the quality and cost effectiveness of producing these materials, and perhaps more importantly extending the useful lifetime of components and structures fabricated from them. Laboratory facilities are available for NDE research on campus at William and Mary, as well as at nearby Jefferson Lab and NASA Langley. Facilities at NASA Langley, including the NDE Research Laboratory, the Polymers and Composites Laboratory, and the Materials Research Laboratory, are used in student and faculty research on such critically important issues as monitoring corrosion and other structural deterioration in the aging commercial airline fleet, and characterizing new advanced composite materials for future aircraft and spacecraft. At Jefferson Lab, NDE research is aimed at implementing on-line diagnostic techniques for use with new high-value-added manufacturing processes that have been made cost effective by the kilowatt Free Electron Laser there.
Students with undergraduate backgrounds in physics, applied mathematics and/or engineering are usually prepared for graduate study in NDE. Specialized NDE graduate courses in the Applied Science Dept. at William and Mary include Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation I and II (APSC 722 and APSC 723), Acoustic Wave Propagation in Solids (APSC 776), and Acoustic and EM Scattering (APSC 785). Familiarity will be gained with advanced technology for measurements such as laser-based ultrasonics, infra-red imaging, acoustic microscopy, microwave and eddy-current imaging, x-ray and ultrasound tomography, and many others. Analytic and computational modeling skills will also be developed. Graduates of the program can expect to utilize their skills in the whole range of academic, government and industrial research and development positions.
The NDE group in Applied Science is headed by Professor Mark Hinders. Prospective students are encouraged to contact Prof. Hinders directly via email with any questions about the graduate program in NDE. Adjunct Professors in Applied Science who do NDE with a particular focus on aerospace applications include Dr. Bill Winfree and Dr. Eric Madaras.
Follow the links below for information about our various research groups.
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