From automobile industry to aerospace, thermoformed composites are more and more in use. Thermoplastics offer a
number of attractive applications in commercial use like short production times, tailored solutions, recyclability and
lower cost. The thermoforming process allows for producing carbon fiber-reinforced parts in a wide range of different
geometric shapes. On the other hand this benefit requires a demanding nondestructive testing procedure especially for
security relevant parts. A contactless method which is able to fulfil this requirement is the extension of the ultrasound
technique with laser technology. It opens up new opportunities for quality assessment during manufacturing like
inspection of complex surfaces including small radii, remote observation and nondestructive testing of hot items directly
after the thermal forming process. We describe the successful application of laser-based ultrasound on small complex
thermoformed composite parts (Cetex® PPS). Cetex consists of semicrystalline polyphenylene sulfide thermoplastics
providing outstanding toughness and excellent chemical and solvent resistance. It is qualified in aircraft industry for
multiple structural applications. For instance, Cetex is used in the Airbus A380 engine air intakes and the wing fixed
leading edge (J-Nose). We investigated several test samples with intentionally introduced defects. The smallest flaw size
detected was 2 mm in diameter for delaminations and 6 mm in diameter for porosity.
At present time a variety of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies for monolithic and sandwich composite
structures exist. In general, all these technologies have in common that None-Destructive-Testing (NDT) sensing
systems - comprising sensor, cabling and connector - are being combined with structural elements. These combinations
of systems with structures lead to multi-variables optimisation problems and resulting conflicts. In order to develop a
globally optimised solution for the integration of a sensing system in a structure for a given SHM use case, the S³ logic
considers the aspects of sensor, structure and process. Therefore, the S³ logic enables a multi-disciplinary system
development in a pragmatic way. This paper focuses on the application of the S³ logic during manufacturing.
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