Surface Pitting Analysis

Pitting corrosion can be found on the airfoils of aircraft engine blades and vanes when they have been in service for a long time. Before this research, the only way to assess the extent of pitting was through visual inspection by the operator. This project has identified for the first time which non-destructive testing technologies are best suited to this task.

• World’s first non-contact equipment designed specifically to automatically measure corrosion pitting.
• Relies on an Alicona 3D sensor R25 and a 9M pixel camera coupled with a blue LED dome light and polarised light bars, enabling detection of pitting ranging in size from 20 to 200 microns. Much faster than traditional visual inspection.
• Images have undergone deep learning based on ViDi Suite to differentiate between pitting and artefacts. System is trained on a representative set of sample images and can automatically learn contextual information such as texture and shape.

• Can automatically detect and assess pitting ranging in size from 20 to 200 microns.
• Relies on a clear threshold of GOOD/BAD, which is not subject to the operator’s interpretation.
• Process data is recorded for reporting, archiving, and further analysis if necessary.
• Cheaper, faster, and more reliable than the existing manual process.

• Gold Medal at the 2018 Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions

• Detection of pitting on aircraft engine blades and vanes
• Detection of corrosion on metallic parts