Smart Bondline Monitoring of an Efficient Industrial Thermoplastic Aircraft Window Frame

In this work, a smart thermoplastic window frame for a regional aircraft has been designed and manufactured. The aim of the work was to design a smart sensing system for monitoring of a bonded thermoplastic aircraft window frame in operation. The conductive tracks were designed and inkjet-printed onto the window frame and their disruption was used as an indication of a damage event created within the bondline. Based on the electrical resistance measurements, the method was able to detect a damage that was created in the bondline due to an impact event. To verify the proposed methodology, ultrasonic C-scan inspection was also performed.