Development of a non-destructive testing system for the automated inspection of ceramic armour plates and parts

Anti-bullet vests are the key components of anti-projectile protection armour which are required to absorb high energy impact. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the development of an inspection system to determine the reliability of these sintered parts. The paper presents some of the research into the non-destructive testing applications implemented in the newly designed in-line automated conveyor system, designed to ensure the reliability of these critical components. The physical size of the ceramic plates (40 × 30 x 5cm) and the plate profile raises numerous challenges, and the system combines the use of a high-resolution laser 3D profiler and a high- resolution 2D x-ray imagining technique, using dedicated image processing algorithms on a fully automated conveyor system. The processed laser and x-ray test data is used to determine important parameters, such as: 3D dimension, thickness, density mapping and defect sizing and positioning to achieve high levels of sensitivity and dimensional resolution (circa 60 microns). When integrated into high speed mass production, the rapid collection of integrity data adds significantly to maintaining the highest levels of quality control, and the conveyor process will be capable of high-speed high sensitivity production. The system measured plate parameters which are compared with acceptance values, and the rapid sample scanning, data acquisition and total accept/reject process takes around 30 seconds. Studies are underway to closely determine the exact material density, by further processing the correlation of laser thickness values and x-ray data.