Patent awarded for NDI technique that detects corrosion beneath paint

Concurrent Technologies Corp (CTC) of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, has announced that it has been awarded a patent for “processes to create discrete corrosion defects on substrates and establish corrosion non-destructive inspection (NDI) test standards”, used to solve real-world corrosion problems.

The company describes this intellectual property, protected under US Patent 7 776 606, as technology that is needed for the effective application of NDI tools to detect corrosion underneath paint on military and commercial aircraft, and other vehicles.

As aircraft age, the maintenance required because of corrosion increases. Corrosion can progress, causing substrate damage that is visually undetectable. This presents a need for NDI tools and protocols capable of locating hidden corrosion beneath paint.

The tools and protocols support condition-based maintenance for the repair of locally affected areas at the onset of corrosion, before extensive and costly substrate damage can occur. Local detection and remediation at the onset of corrosion can reduce repair costs, down time and the environmental effects associated with the current practice of completely removing a coating and then reapplying it.

“The issuance of this patent exemplifies CTC's plan to ensure competitiveness in emerging technology fields,” commented Edward Sheehan Jr, President and Chief Executive Officer, CTC.

“Starting as a corrosion project for US Army Aviation more than eight years ago, and later expanding to applications for the US Air Force, the team developed a process to create test standards containing hidden discrete corrosion defects used to characterise corrosion detection performance of NDI instrumentation, develop NDI analysis protocols and validate NDI results of inspecting corrosion on aircraft. These processes and standards ensure the structural integrity of the aircraft, and therefore ensure our war-fighters' safety.”

CTC started working with NDI to detect corrosion beneath paint during 2002. In 2003, employees based at CTC's office in Largo, Florida - Joe Pecina, a metallurgical advisory engineer, and Scott Ryan, a laboratory technician, along with several co-inventors - started development of the process to create discrete corrosion defects in the laboratory.

The patent application was filed in 2007, approved in 2010 and Pecina and Ryan applied for two related, divisional patents to cover additional claims in the application.

For further information, contact:

Concurrent Technologies Corp, 100 CTC Drive, Johnstown, PA 15904-1935, USA. Tel: +1-814-269-2592 Web: www.ctc.com