Corrosion & Non‐Destructive Testing

In the “in‐service” maintenance and inspection of aircraft structures, an uneasy alliance exists between corrosion detection and Non‐Destructive Testing. NDT is a widely used and generally successful way of inspecting for structural defects and as the service life of aircraft is extended and corrosion therefore tends to become a not uncommon structural defect, why should not NDT be as useful in this situation as it often is in detecting cracks occasioned by extended flying hours and increased flight cycles? This paper tries to answer that question by pointing out some of the advantages and disadvantages of NDT applied to corrosion detection in the aviation industry.