Optical coatings used in ultraviolet applications are often exposed to harsh environments operating at elevated temperatures. In order to study the impact of the ageing effects optical coatings experience at various operating temperatures, an ultraviolet laser-induced degradation test system has been developed. It allows for flexible use in both a long-term stability test bench as well as in an LIDT measurement system. This work contains the preliminary results of optical degradation tests at 355 nm performed on anti-reflective coatings. As a subsequent step, the LIDT of the samples were measured using a Q-Switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064nm.
Manufacturing processes from the private and academic sectors were used to deposit anti-reflective and high-reflective coatings composed of Ta2O5 - SiO2 multilayers. Used deposition techniques included three Ion Assisted Deposition (IAD) systems and an Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) system. Coatings were performed on fused silica (Corning 7980) substrates polished by two different suppliers. LIDT Measurements were performed using a Q-Switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064nm. The paper presents a comparison of the coatings in terms of laser damage threshold values, optical properties and surface quality.
In this paper, we describe a simple and cost-effective method and measuring device for automatic detection of welding. The sensor is to be used in automatic darkening filters (ADF) of welding helmets protecting the operator from intensive hazardous UV radiation. For reasons discussed in detail below, conventional sensor principles used in ADF are being out-dated. Here, we critically revise some alternatives and propose an approach comprising an optical distance sensor. Its underlying principle is triangulation with two pin-hole cameras. The absence of optical components such as lenses results in very low cost. At first, feasibility is tested with optical simulations. Additionally, we present measurement results that prove the practicability of our proposal.
In an earlier paper we have described a concept for high speed 3D inspection using fringe projection techniques. We use
a special CMOS camera with 300 x 300 px which can calculate the phase on board. The focus of the first step of
development had been a fringe projector, which was able to modulate the projected fringes with up to 250 kHz.
In the second step the image acquisition part of the system was developed. In case of 3D measurement with a matrix
camera, the camera resp. the measuring object has to be moved stepwise in the lateral direction to cover multiple
acquisition areas of the measurement object. Between each image the lateral movement has to correspond to the field of
view of the camera. At the intended very high image acquisition rates the high acceleration of the system between each
image will lead to inacceptable mechanical forces.
In order to obtain a continuous scanning procedure and at the same time to use the performance of a matrix camera, a
special lens system was developed. A measurement field 120 mm long and 3 mm wide is imaged onto the camera. The
width of the measuring field is imaged onto the 300 rows of the camera, giving a lateral resolution of 10 μm. In the longitudinal direction the 120 mm object length is divided into 12’000 lines to reach the same resolution of 10 μm. Due
to technical reasons that will be described later only 240 of the 300 pixel rows on the chip were used. Consequently, with each camera shot 240 separated lines are imaged onto the chip. Between each of these 240 lines there is a large empty space, which is not imaged by the camera. In principle, the camera is operating as 240 single line cameras. Therefore, if the camera is shifted in an inclined direction to the camera orientation over the object, the empty spaces can be recorded as well. In an optimum alignment, the complete measuring object can be scanned in a continuous movement, covering the total length of 120 mm. In this paper we will describe this image acquisition system and give first measuring results.
Digital holography has proven its ability to acquire high accuracy full field 3D data with one single image acquisition. This means that in principle this technique offers the chance to perform 3D serial inspection processes, as well. However, one limitation in digital holography is its limited ability to measure rough surfaces. In the presence of rough surfaces, the magnification of the image has to be increased to capture the required phase information on each camera pixel. However, this leads to significant reduction of inspection speed. If low magnification is selected, the rough surface produces speckles which cannot be treated properly by digital holography algorithms. In this paper, we describe the extension of digital holography to rough surface applications using speckle interferometry technique. This technique is capable of fast inspection of rough surfaces with sub-micrometer accuracy. The principle of this approach is shown and a practical application for 3D surface inspection of wafer cutting processes is given.
Increasing manufacturing accuracy requirements enforce the development of innovative and highly sensitive measuring tools. Especially for measurement with submicrometer accuracy, the sensor principle has to be chosen appropriately for each measurement surface. Modern multisensor coordinate measurement systems allow automatic selection of different sensor heads to measure different areas or properties of a sample. As an example, different types of optical sensors as well as tactile sensors can be used within the same measuring system. I describe different principles of optical sensors used in multisensor coordinate measurement systems as well as a new approach for tactile measurement with submicrometer accuracy. A special fiber probe has been developed. The tip of the fiber probe is formed as a sphere. The lateral position of this sphere is observed by a microscope objective and can be determined within a fraction of a micrometer. Additionally, a novel optical setup now allows the determination of the z-position of the fiber tip with submicrometer accuracy. For this purpose, an interferometer setup is used. The laser light is coupled into the optical fiber. The light exiting the fiber tip is collected by the microscope objective and superposed with a reference wave, generated directly from the laser. The result is an interference signal that is recorded by the camera and processed by a computer. With this setup, the z-displacement of the fiber sphere can be measured with an accuracy of a fraction of the laser wavelength used.
The trend towards computers with multiple processing units keeps going with no end in sight. Modern consumer
computers come with 2 - 6 processing units. Programming methods have been unable to keep up with this fast
development. In this paper we present a framework that uses a dataflow model for parallel processing: the Generic
Parallel Rapid Development Toolkit, GePaRDT. This intuitive programming model eases the concurrent usage
of many processing units without specialized knowledge about parallel programming methods and it's pitfalls.
Increasing manufacturing accuracy requirements enforce the development of innovative and highly sensitive measuring
tools. Especially for measurement with sub micrometer accuracy, the sensor principle has to be chosen appropriately for
each measurement surface. Modern multi sensor coordinate measurements systems allow automatic selection of different
sensor heads to measure different areas or properties of a sample. As example, different types of optical sensors as well
as tactile sensors can be used with the same machine.
In this paper we describe different principles of optical sensors used in multi sensor coordinate measurement systems as
well as a new approach for tactile measurement with sub micrometer accuracy. A special fiber probe has been developed.
The tip of the fiber probe is formed as a sphere. The lateral position of this sphere is observed by a microscope optics and
can be determined to a fraction of a micrometer. Additionally, a novel optical set-up now even allows the determination
of the z-position of the fiber tip with sub micrometer accuracy.
For this purpose we use an interferometric set-up. The light of laser is coupled into the optical fiber. The light, exiting the
fiber tip is collected by a microscope optics and superposed with a reference wave, generated directly from the laser. The
result is an interferometric signal which is recorded by the camera and processed by a computer. With this set-up, the zdisplacement
of the fiber sphere can be measured with an accuracy of a fraction of the used laser wavelength.
Fringe projection techniques have been widely used for inspection of free form surfaces for quality inspection or reverse
engineering purposes. For inline 3D-inspection systems maximum measuring speed is of vital interest. Typically, image
acquisition and processing rates of up to 10'000 frames/s are state of the art.
In order to exceed this value, we propose a fringe projection concept which uses a high speed CMOS camera with in
pixel phase calculation. The camera can record up to 1 million frames/s. An analogue calculation is realized in every
pixel to extract the phase of the temporarily modulated light.
In order to determine a phase, the illumination light must be modulated with a quarter of the frame rate of the image
acquisition device, in our case with up to 250 kHz. In fringe projection techniques, the projected fringes must be shifted
with respect to the inspected surface. Mechanical phase shifting of the fringes becomes the crucial problem in ultra high
speed fringe projection. We have investigated a new way to generate 250 kHz phase shifted fringes. In this paper, we
present the new fringe projection technique and discuss the results of our high speed 3D measuring device.
Optical measuring techniques for micro structures are limited by the numerical aperture of the objective. Within
these limits different techniques can be used: white light interferometry uses an illumination source with short
coherence length to determine the absolute position of the surface while confocal profilometry uses the principle of
the defocus of light. As a relatively new technique, digital holography offers the simultaneous measurement of
intensity and phase of a wave to generate a 3D image with the acquisition of just one single image. We give some
application examples of these techniques to micro structures including deformation measurements.
The resonator of a solid state laser is a very well aligned optical system. As the resonator may be
as much as a meter or more in length and precise alignment of the optical elements is required, the
whole system needs to be exceptionally stable in order to guarantee reliable function.
On the other hand, the laser crystal is pumped by light from a focused laser diode with significant
optical power. This energy is only partly converted into optical energy as the required laser light.
Most of the pump energy is lost as heat. The heat is dissipated within the laser crystal and into the
mounting system of the crystal. Due to the thermal expansion of material, the crystal and its
mounting system are deformed. The deformation of the crystal will cause a so-called thermal lens
effect while movement of the mounting system can lead to disalignment of the laser resonator.
In this paper, we describe an experimental set-up to measure the thermal lens effect by means of
digital holography. A digital holography microscope was positioned above the laser resonator. The
surface of the laser crystal was observed by the microscope via a selectively reflective mirror while
the crystal was being pumped and the whole laser system was operating. By changing pump
current and laser power, it was possible to monitor both deformation of the crystal surface and
deflection of the crystal holder. We present the results of this experiment including an estimate of
the stresses and temperatures on the laser crystal induced by its thermal deformation.
Shearography has been validated as fast and reliable inspection technique for aerospace components. Following several years phase of evaluation of the technique, meanwhile, shearography has entered the industrial production inspection.
The applications basically range from serial inspection in the production line to field inspection in assembly and to applications in the maintenance and repair area. In all applications, the main advantages of shearography, as very fast and full field insection and high sensitivity even on very complex on composite materials have led to the decision for laser shearography as inspection tool.
In this paper, we present some highlights of industrial shearography inspection. One of the first industrial installations of laser shearography in Europe was a fully automatic inspection system for helicopter rotorblades. Complete rotor blades are inspected within 10 minutes on delaminations and debondingg in the composite structure.
In case of more complex components, robotic manipulation of the shearography camera has proven to be the optimal solution. An industry 6-axis robot give utmost flexibility to position the camera in any angle and distance. Automatic defect marking systems have also been introduced to indicate the exact position of the defect directly on the inspected component.
Other applications are shearography inspection systems for abradable seals in jet engines and portable shearography inspection systems for maintenance and repair inspection in the field. In this paper, recent installations of automatice inspection systems in aerospace industries are presented.
The motivation of the study was the demand for light weight designs in automotive techniques, as well as the enhancement of the stiffness of convertible bodies and an improvement of the FEA elements and methods. Hence follow an acceleration of component design.
Shearography has been validated as fast and reliable inspection technique for aerospace components. Following several years phase of evaluation of the technique, meanwhile, shearography has entered the industrial production inspection.
The applications basically range from serial inspection in the production line to field inspection in assembly and to applications in the maintenance and repair area. In all applications, the main advantages of shearography, as very fast and full field inspection and high sensitivity even on very complex composite materials have led to the decision for laser shearography as inspection tool.
In this paper, we present examples of recent industrial shearography inspection systems in the field of aerospace. One of the first industrial installations of laser shearography in Europe was a fully automatic inspection system for helicopter rotorblades. Complete rotor blades are inspected within 10 minutes on delaminations and debondings in the composite structure.
In case of more complex components, robotic manipulation of the shearography camera has proven to be the optimum solution. An industry 6-axis robot gives utmost flexibility to position the camera in any angle and distance. Automatic defect marking systems have also been introduced to indicate the exact position of the defect directly on the inspected component.
Other applications cover the inspection of abradable seals in jet engines and portable shearography inspection systems for maintenance and repair inspection in the field.
Speckle Pattern Interferometry has emerged from the experimental substitution of holographic interferometry to become a powerful problem solving tool in research and industry. The rapid development of computer and digital imaging techniques in combination with minaturization of the optical equipment led to new applications which had not been anticipated before. While classical holographic interferometry had always required careful consideration of the environmental conditions such as vibration, noise, light, etc. and could generally only be performed in the optical laboratory, it is now state of the art, to handle portable speckle measuring equipment at almost any place. During the last decade, the change in design and technique has dramatically influenced the range of applications of speckle metrology and opened new markets. The integration of recent research results into speckle measuring equipment has led to handy equipment, simplified the operation and created high quality data output.
In structural testing the determination of the dynamic structure response is one of the most important and difficult tasks. Double pulse holography interferometer has been widely used for analysis of the dynamic behavior of the structures. Recently PulsESPI techniques are increasingly used to replace conventional double pulse holography interferometer, not only taking over the main benefits of holography towards conventional measuring techniques, such as full field, non contact and sensitive, but also uses modern video and computer techniques for image capturing and processing. Recent developments have extended the capabilities of PulsESPI techniques to 3D measurement of dynamic structure response and modal analysis of vibrations.
Shearography has been validated as fast and reliable inspection technique for composite materials in aerospace components. Following a several years phase of evaluation of the technique to show the principal applicability and prove the required sensitivity, now the first production lines for aerospace components have been equipped with automatic shearography inspection systems. In this paper, recent installations of automatic inspection systems in aerospace industries are presented.
Pulsed ESPI techniques have been developed during the last years to replace conventional double pulse holography interferometer for analysis of dynamic behavior of components. The main benefits of holography towards conventional measuring techniques have already been known as field and non-contact measurement results. Recent developments have extended the capabilities of pulsed ESPI techniques to 3D measurement of dynamic behavior. The object under investigation is illuminated with the light of a pulsed laser and simultaneously observed from 3 different directions with 3 ESPI cameras. The measuring results from the 3 cameras are representing the deformation field in the 3 sensitivity directions of the optical set-up. The optical image distortion due to the different viewing angles of the 3 cameras is automatically compensated and the complete 3D-deformation vector is calculated on every point of the inspected surface. Recent industrial applications of the 3D pulsed ESPI technique have been identified and carried out in the field of automotive NVH applications, aerospace and railway technique.
Today's industry demands high-performance components meeting toughest mechanical features and ultimate safety standards. Especially in automotive and aircraft industry the development focuses on tailor-made design and solutions according to customer specifications. To reconcile economy, light-weight construction has become a key issue. Many companies are looking for new advanced strain/stress analysis techniques to improve cost efficiency and the limitations of classical methods. Detection of weak points and fatigue tests are carried out mainly with strain gauges which need careful application and experience. ESPI (electronic speckle pattern interferometry) allows a rapid, full field and 3D-measurement without contact. This paper presents the principle and application of a new miniaturized laser optical sensor combining contour and deformation measurement. In its basic employment ESPI is an interferometric method measuring deformations at modern working materials with high accuracy. Here also a module for contouring was developed and integrated into a single interferometer. Therefore even at complex components it is possible to measure and display strain-fields and -gradients with respect to the underlying contour. The new sensor is a unique device for flexible strain-analysis at welded-materials, extrusions, engines, car-bodies, etc. Without preparation and due to the full field and 3D- measurement 'hot spots' are shown, reducing the testing procedure and increasing the reliability of the complex component testing significantly. In this paper the recent development of a miniaturized ESPI-interferometer for strain and stress measurement is described. Advanced features according to classical techniques are specified and new applications in material and component testing are presented.
In its classical application Electronic Speckle-Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) is used to measure deformations with high resolution. Additionally, this methods also able to measure the 3D topography of technical surfaces even with discontinuities. If adequate set-ups are used, combined measurements of shape and deformation can also be carried out. Especially in production of machines and other metal parts, the determination of the stress and strain e.g. of welding points is a very important issue for evaluating about the quality of the specimen under test. Here, the use of wire resistance strain gauges is state-of-the-art for measuring length variations of parts under mechanical load. It is very time-consuming to prepare the corresponding measurement environment for strain gauges. Moreover, only very limited information about the strain can be measured by this means because all information is integrated over the whole area covered by the strain gauges without lateral resolution. In order to extend this kind of metrology to a matrix of some thousands points even including sensitivity in the out-of-plane-direction, ESPI-methods can be used. As described in this paper, it is therefore necessary to perform both,the shape and the deformation measurement to obtain the necessary information. Of course, the directions of sensitivity depend on the contour of the test specimen ad can be determined due to the previously measured topography. In this paper current work on the field of stress and strain measurements with ESPI is described. The experimental result of several technical applications is shown and it is compared to measurements with conventional strain gauges. Further possible technical applications are discussed and the prototype of an ESPI stress sensor is presented.
Helicopter rotor blades are highly sophisticated products composed of a variety of materials and components and therefore, 100 percent quality control has to be assured. Therefore, the French helicopter producer, Eurocopter S.A., Paris, has installed a system for automatic and 100 percent inspection of rotor blades on structural defects. In this system, laser shearography is used as an inspection technique. The rotor blades are mounted in a vacuum chamber and loaded with a relative pressure difference. At this load, bonding and structural defects show up as tiny deformations of the surface and are recorded with two shearography cameras, positioned on both sides of the rotor blade. After each measurement, they are automatically moved to the next inspection position. In this way, the entire rotor blade is automatically inspected in several measuring steps. As this helicopter blade inspection system is the first automatic production control system based on laser shearography in Europe, this application is an important step in bringing shearography techniques into production control. In this paper, the complete inspection system is presented.
The increasing demand for better characterisation ofmaterials and components in many cases requires ftill field information
for the analysis of the mechanical behaviour. 3D Speckle Interferometry offers the possibility to obtain full field and non
contact deformation and strain analysis of materials and components. The principle and theory of this technique have been
well known since several years. Novel designs now offer the opportunity of easy application in the field of material and
component testing.
Nowadays in mechanical material testing strains are measured only between two distinctive points on the specimen with probes or by optical analysis of two marked positions on the surface of the specimen. Information about eventual inhomogeneous strain distribution between these two points can not be obtained by these methods. A new laseroptic strain sensor overcomes these restrictions by using the principle of laser speckle interferometry for measurement. In the 1D measuring case the specimen is symmetrically illuminated by two bundles of laser light and the image recorded with a high resolution CCD-camera. Computer evaluation of the images shows deformations and strains on the surface of the specimen with high sensitivity. An extended design uses two of these optical set-ups to provide two inplane measuring directions. Special interest was laid onto the optical set-up which guarantees uniform measuring sensitivities in the whole measuring field and as well very limited adjustment requirements. The laseroptic strain sensor requires no marking on the specimen and gives full field measuring information without contact on nearly any surface. In this paper the operation principle of the laseroptic strain sensor is described. Typical application examples in material testing are given.
Ductile cast iron containers for transportation and deposition of radioactive waste have to be designed carefully in order to avoid unacceptable damages and leakages in case of an accident. Therefore various calculation and experimental methods are used during development and licensing of the containers. Besides others the container has to suffer severe impacts (e.g. falling from a height of several meters onto a concrete base). The level of strains must not exceed a value which would adversely affect the package in such a way that it would fail to meet the applicable requirements. In practice complex events such as drop tests are very difficult to calculate. Both the position of Maximum stress and the time of its occurrence are not easy to be predicted with the method of FEM. The uncertainty of the material modelling for plastic deformations by dynamic loading rates is the limiting factor. Therefore holography as an integral measuring technique in combination with strain gauge techniques were used to fit the FEM. By using the FEM calculations in the case of licensing, the FE and the material model have to be verified. The verification of the FE model has to be done by comparison of the local maxima measured by strain gauges and by comparison of the vibration modes. These vibration modes we take from holographic measurements. In this paper we explain container vibrations after impact analyzed with holographic measurements, FEM calculations and the comparison of the results. The comparison of the local maxima (strain gauges/FEM) is reported earlier.
Nowadays in mechanical material testing strains are measured only between two distinctive points on the specimen
with probes or by optical analysis of two marked positions on the surface of the specimen. Information about eventual
inhomogeneous strain distribution between these two points can not be obtained by these methods.
A new laseroptic strain sensor overcomes these restrictions by using the principle oflaser speckle interferometry for
measure-ment. In the one dimensional measuring case the specimen is syinetrically illuminated by two bundles of laser
light and the image recorded with a high resolution CCD-camera. Computer evaluation of the images shows
deformations and strains on the surface of the specimen with high sensitivity. An extended design uses two of these
optical setups to provide two inplane measuring directions. Special interest was layed onto the optical set-up which
guarantees uniform measuring sensitivities in the whole measuring field and as well very limited adjustment
requirements. The laseroptic strain sensor requires no marking on the specimen and gives full field measuring
information without contact on nearly any surface.
In this paper the operation principle of the laseroptic strain sensor is described. Typical application examples in
material testing are given.
New materials and components are often difficult to inspect. Shearography provides full field and non contact deformation and strain measurement in video realtime with very high resolution. This possibility gives it the chance to detect defects inside the component by looking at the strain distribution on the surface of the component during a little mechanical or thermal load. For example a foamed dashboard can be inspected shearographically by putting it into a vacuum chamber and changing the pressure inside the chamber by a slight amount. The enclosed air in voids will cause the expansion of the void and show up in a small deformation of the surface of the dashboard at the void. A shearography system is detecting these deformations and displaying them on a computer monitor. In this paper the technique of shearographic nondestructive inspection and examples of applications in automotive industries, aircraft industry, and terotechnology are given.
Ductile cast iron containers for transportation and deposition of radioactive waste have to be designed carefully in order to avoid unacceptable damages and leakages in case of an accident. Therefore various calculation and experimental methods are used during development and licensing of the containers. Besides others the container has to suffer severe impacts (e.g. falling from a height of several meters onto a concrete base). The level of strains must not exceed a value which would adversely affect the package in such a way that it would fail to meet the applicable requirements. In practice complex events as an impact are very difficult to calculate. Both the position of maximum stress and the time of its occurrence are not easy to be predicted with conventional methods. Therefore holography as an integral measuring technique was combined with strain gauge techniques and FEM calculations to analyze the integral and local loads of the container at drop tests. In this paper we explain the experimental and analytical proceedings and the combination of the results.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.