Research progress of automated ultrasonic imaging detection technology for complex aircraft components

Traditional ultrasonic automated non-destructive testing is a great challenge in the inspection of aviation components with complex surfaces. Complex surfaces can interfere with the formation of the focus in the sound beam，and the waveform transformation generated when the sound beam is incident is more complex. All these will lead to a decrease in the ultrasonic testing capability and a significant reduction in the obtained echo signal-to-noise ratio. Under the background of intelligent manufacturing，the development of rapid and low-cost manufacturing of aviation components has been seriously restricted. The paper analyzes the ultrasonic propagation of complex surface media，and summarizes the technical difficulties of automatic ultrasonic detection of complex surface components. The paper also describes the development status of three kinds of automatic ultrasonic imaging detection of complex surfaces，which are based on flexible phased array ultrasonic probe，ultrasonic C-scan imaging detection based on industrial robot and phased array ultrasonic imaging detection for complex surfaces. The advantages and limitations of three kinds of automated ultrasonic imaging detection are analyzed，and the challenges faced by various ultrasonic imaging technologies are reviewed. The key technology to break through the automatic ultrasonic imaging detection of complex aerospace components under the background of intelligent manufacturing is proposed. The paper introduces the future technical requirements for the development of advanced imaging algorithms for automated inspection and the intelligent recognition and classification of defects in the ultrasonic testing of complex aviation components. The key detection technologies based on digital twin detection path planning and the design and manufacture of massive channel phased array ultrasonic sensors，which are urgently needed to be broken through under the background of intelligent manufacturing，have been proposed.