Non-destructive testing of polyethylene composite by terahertz radiation

Palka, Norbert, Wiesław Ciurapinski, Janusz Wrobel, Leon Jodlowski, Mieczyslaw Szustakowski, Danuta Miedzinska, Roman Gielata, and Rene Beigang. "Non-destructive testing of polyethylene composite by terahertz radiation." In Microwave, Radar and Wireless Communications (MIKON), 2016 21st International Conference on, pp. 1-4. IEEE, 2016.

Abstract:

We report on the terahertz time-of-flight analysis of an internal structure of an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composite material, which is based on the BT10-tape from Dyneema®. This type of composite is very hard and resistant and therefore it is often used to manufacture personal armors such as bulletproof vests and helmets. The multilayer structure of the UHMWPE composite was investigated by means of a raster scanning time domain spectroscopy technique in a reflection configuration. The mechanism of the formation of many shifted in time THz pulses (reflected from the internal layers of the sample) originates from the periodic modulation of the refractive index along the propagation of the radiation. This modulation is connected with alternate layers of fibers, each having different direction (perpendicular to each other one). As a result, the detailed three dimensional profile of the 20-mm-thick sample was obtained. Moreover, it is also possible to identify internal defects i.e. delaminations in the internal structure of this composite material.

... lll. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP TPI Imaga measuring unit from TeraView was used for raster scanning of the sampIe placed on the XY servo- motorized stage with real-time positioning. ... The Volume Viewer software from Teraview allows us to see the 3D image of the sampIe (Fig. ...

For full paper see http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7492002/

for more information about TeraView see http://www.azom.com/equipment-details.aspx?EquipID=4411