A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring
Corrosion is an ever-present phenomena of material deterioration that affects all metal structures. Timely and accurate detection of corrosion is required for structural maintenance and effective management of structural components during their life cycle. The usage of aircraft materials has been pr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/2908 |
| _version_ | 1797536952480694272 |
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| author | Lucy Li Mounia Chakik Ravi Prakash |
| author_facet | Lucy Li Mounia Chakik Ravi Prakash |
| author_sort | Lucy Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Corrosion is an ever-present phenomena of material deterioration that affects all metal structures. Timely and accurate detection of corrosion is required for structural maintenance and effective management of structural components during their life cycle. The usage of aircraft materials has been primarily driven by the need for lighter, stronger, and more robust metal alloys, rather than mitigation of corrosion. As such, the overall cost of corrosion management and aircraft downtime remains high. To illustrate, $5.67 billion or 23.6% of total sustainment costs was spent on aircraft corrosion management, as well as 14.1% of total NAD for the US Air Force aviation and missiles in the fiscal year of 2018. The ability to detect and monitor corrosion will allow for a more efficient and cost-effective corrosion management strategy, and will therefore, minimize maintenance costs and downtime, and to avoid unexpected failure associated with corrosion. Conventional and commercial efforts in corrosion detection on aircrafts have focused on visual and other field detection approaches which are time- and usage-based rather than condition-based; they are also less effective in cases where the corroded area is inaccessible (e.g., fuel tank) or hidden (rivets). The ability to target and detect specific corrosion by-products associated with the metals/metal alloys (chloride ions, fluoride ions, iron oxides, aluminum chlorides etc.), corrosion environment (pH, wetness, temperature), along with conventional approaches for physical detection of corrosion can provide early corrosion detection as well as enhanced reliability of corrosion detection. The paper summarizes the state-of-art of corrosion sensing and measurement technologies for schedule-based inspection or continuous monitoring of physical, environmental and chemical presence associated with corrosion. The challenges are reviewed with regards to current gaps of corrosion detection and the complex task of corrosion management of an aircraft, with a focused overview of the corrosion factors and corrosion forms that are pertinent to the aviation industry. A comprehensive overview of thin film sensing techniques for corrosion detection and monitoring on aircrafts are being conducted. Particular attention is paid to innovative new materials, especially graphene-derived thin film sensors which rely on their ability to be configured as a conductor, semiconductor, or a functionally sensitive layer that responds to corrosion factors. Several thin film sensors have been detailed in this review as highly suited candidates for detecting corrosion through direct sensing of corrosion by-products in conjunction with the aforementioned physical and environmental corrosion parameters. The ability to print/pattern these thin film materials directly onto specific aircraft components, or deposit them onto rigid and flexible sensor surfaces and interfaces (fibre optics, microelectrode structures) makes them highly suited for corrosion monitoring applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:08:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f18060c18890438b846912c88e4e9d60 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:08:10Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-f18060c18890438b846912c88e4e9d602023-11-21T16:28:54ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-04-01219290810.3390/s21092908A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion MonitoringLucy Li0Mounia Chakik1Ravi Prakash2Aerospace Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, CanadaDepartment of Electronics Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaDepartment of Electronics Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, CanadaCorrosion is an ever-present phenomena of material deterioration that affects all metal structures. Timely and accurate detection of corrosion is required for structural maintenance and effective management of structural components during their life cycle. The usage of aircraft materials has been primarily driven by the need for lighter, stronger, and more robust metal alloys, rather than mitigation of corrosion. As such, the overall cost of corrosion management and aircraft downtime remains high. To illustrate, $5.67 billion or 23.6% of total sustainment costs was spent on aircraft corrosion management, as well as 14.1% of total NAD for the US Air Force aviation and missiles in the fiscal year of 2018. The ability to detect and monitor corrosion will allow for a more efficient and cost-effective corrosion management strategy, and will therefore, minimize maintenance costs and downtime, and to avoid unexpected failure associated with corrosion. Conventional and commercial efforts in corrosion detection on aircrafts have focused on visual and other field detection approaches which are time- and usage-based rather than condition-based; they are also less effective in cases where the corroded area is inaccessible (e.g., fuel tank) or hidden (rivets). The ability to target and detect specific corrosion by-products associated with the metals/metal alloys (chloride ions, fluoride ions, iron oxides, aluminum chlorides etc.), corrosion environment (pH, wetness, temperature), along with conventional approaches for physical detection of corrosion can provide early corrosion detection as well as enhanced reliability of corrosion detection. The paper summarizes the state-of-art of corrosion sensing and measurement technologies for schedule-based inspection or continuous monitoring of physical, environmental and chemical presence associated with corrosion. The challenges are reviewed with regards to current gaps of corrosion detection and the complex task of corrosion management of an aircraft, with a focused overview of the corrosion factors and corrosion forms that are pertinent to the aviation industry. A comprehensive overview of thin film sensing techniques for corrosion detection and monitoring on aircrafts are being conducted. Particular attention is paid to innovative new materials, especially graphene-derived thin film sensors which rely on their ability to be configured as a conductor, semiconductor, or a functionally sensitive layer that responds to corrosion factors. Several thin film sensors have been detailed in this review as highly suited candidates for detecting corrosion through direct sensing of corrosion by-products in conjunction with the aforementioned physical and environmental corrosion parameters. The ability to print/pattern these thin film materials directly onto specific aircraft components, or deposit them onto rigid and flexible sensor surfaces and interfaces (fibre optics, microelectrode structures) makes them highly suited for corrosion monitoring applications.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/2908aircraft corrosioncost of corrosioncorrosion environment and by-productscorrosion managementgraphene derived materialsgraphene-based sensors |
| spellingShingle | Lucy Li Mounia Chakik Ravi Prakash A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring Sensors aircraft corrosion cost of corrosion corrosion environment and by-products corrosion management graphene derived materials graphene-based sensors |
| title | A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring |
| title_full | A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring |
| title_fullStr | A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring |
| title_short | A Review of Corrosion in Aircraft Structures and Graphene-Based Sensors for Advanced Corrosion Monitoring |
| title_sort | review of corrosion in aircraft structures and graphene based sensors for advanced corrosion monitoring |
| topic | aircraft corrosion cost of corrosion corrosion environment and by-products corrosion management graphene derived materials graphene-based sensors |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/2908 |
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