Background

The commercial, military and space sectors of the aerospace industry all have stringent standards of materials quality, product performance and safety.

X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Imaging Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToFSIMS), Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (DSIMS), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and 3DP- 3D non-contact surface profiling have all been utilised by CSMA to investigate problems such as:

· Corrosion of aluminium and titanium alloys

· Adhesion failure

· UV reflective coatings

· Head Up Display units
Examples of Work undertaken by CSMA for the Aerospace Industry
Depth Profiling of Aircraft Windows

DSIMS depth profiling was undertaken on a coated toughened polymer laminate.

The analysis provided details of the exact layer structure of the coated laminate and the coating thickness was determined.

The data provided was used in the development of the next generation coated toughened polymer laminates.
Cleanliness Validation

GC-MS, ICP-OES, XPS and ToFSIMS were all utilised to validate a cleaning process.

Analysis was undertaken at each point of the cleaning process to identify sources of contamination.

The results were utilised to improve the cleaning process eliminating contamination.
Other Examples

Other work undertaken by CSMA includes:

· XPS Analysis of Brown Staining on a Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Ring

· Analysis of Titanium Blades

· SIMS Analysis of Inclusions in Multi-layer Coating on Acrylic Canopy

· Surface Characterisation of Sputter-Coated Sapphire Windows using ToF-SIMS

· XPS Studies of the Effects of Rare Earth Surface Oxide Modification Treatments on Aluminium Alloy

· XPS and ToF-SIMS investigation of rotor blade shield strap disbondment.

· DSIMS Analysis of Gear Teeth Sections

· ToFSIMS Investigation into Coating Failure on an Engine Cylinder Bore