1. 
Bus ride through a million sq meter area. The DGZfP
regional chapter from Dortmund organized by Mr.
Hueck visited the Lufthansa Technik Hamburg -
Rolf Diederichs joined the group of 80. We
had to travel by bus through a 1 million sq meter area
to reach the LH Technik facilities. LH Technik AG
is a part of the Deutsche Lufthansa AG
group.
With a staff of 7000, Hamburg is the
largest branch. 50% of their business (1.2 billion DM in 1996)
consists of
aerotechnical services to other airlines. Mr. Lacius, the NDT
supervisor of
the NDT department, introduced us to his area. Airplanes have to undergo
tests according to a fixed inspection scheme. A
so-called D-check is the most intensive inspection
and is performed after 25 000 flight hours or 5 - 10
Years, up to 40, 000 work hours and costs about 4
Mill DM. LH Technik Hamburg performs 100
D-checks per year . More details of the company
are provided on the Lufthansa Technik Homepage.
2.
Bulkhead outside view. The bulkhead needs an
intensive inspection.
3.
Bulkhead inside view. The bulkhead is tested
with ultrasonic and eddy current methods.
4.
Bolted or riveted joints. Aircraft have a huge
number of rivets but 'only' up to 10 000 of them
have to be tested. Rotating probe eddy current is
used for hole inspection.
5.
An example of visible defects.
6.
Corrosion under the bottom. Some suspected areas are regulary inspected on corrosion by use of eddy current testing.
7.
Important brackets holding the engine. A Boeing 747 lost its
engine over Amsterdam; that disaster cost many
human lives. Just an example of the importance of bracket integrity.
Today all 747s are manufactured with modified brackets - and put through
ultrasonic
testing!
8.
Frame of the engine. This picture shows again the brackets of the engine frame.
9.
Bracket of the landing gear. This is also an
important part which is tested with ultrasonics.
10.
Autoclave for composite repair. Ultrasonics are used
for testing of delamination of composite structures.
Defects are repaired and put into the
autoclave.
11.
Tank in the wing. Radiography is used for in-tank testing.
12.
Aircraft engine. The engine consists of up to 38,000
parts. Sometimes the complete engine is
disassembled.
13.
Fan Disk with LPC- Module (Low Pressure
Compressor) of a CF6-80C2 engine.
14.
Assembled Fan Rotor of a V2500 engine consisting of Fan Discs and the Fan Blades.
15.
A variety of HPC-blades which show examples of tip repair by welding.
16.
Assembling and disassembling area.
17.
Ultrasonic technique is used to make sure that the
honeycomb structure inside the front fan case has
bonded properly to the metal surface of the case.
18.
Many engine parts are tested in the immersion tank. The Krautkramer ultrasonic equipment KB 6000 must fullfill a specific GE specification before it can be used for testing of GE engines.
19.
Spool of a GE engine. This is a brand new GE
development. With its motorized fixture the spool
can be tested outside of the immersion tank. The
device is mobile and can save testing time. It is
equipped with both an eddy current and an ultrasonic
probe connected to an Krautkramer USD
10.
21.
The cleaning area before Penetrant Testing shows
an automatic cleaning line. After various steps of
cleaning and rinsing the last step is vacuum drying.
22.
Parts are prepared for the cleaning line. Single parts
are mounted in individual positions to optimize the
results of cleaning and rinsing.
23.
Parts on the way. This begins the process for
Penetrant Testing that is an essential NDT method
for many engine parts.
24.
Parts loaded into the penetration room. Hanging from
a crane system parts will go "green" to the
electrostatic paint gun.
25.
Part in the penetration room .After the parts are
penetrated, washed, dried, and sprayed with
developer they will be evaluated for cracks under
an ultra violet light (black light). A
separate room is assigned for each step.
26.
Example of cracks under UV Light. This test panel shows clear cracks.
27.
Local penetrant testing is performed on a chrome
cladded axis.