Technical data

13773-001
51-10
Page 2 30 Nov 2000
Exploration is an extension of visual inspection, but requires removal of the surface coat.
Removing the surface coat is a difficult task, and care must be taken to ensure that more dam-
age is not created in the process. The exploration method must be used when the suspect area
is hard or impossible to access or to evaluate the damage. A borescope or ultrasound can also
be used for inspecting damage.
B. Types Of Damage
Structural damage to composite laminates can be divided into four categories or types. The following
are definitions of each category: (See Figure 51-101)
Laminate Only Damage to pure laminate or damage to one side of a sandwich construction that
has no core damage.
Minor Core Damage to one side of a sandwich construction and minor gouging of core mate-
rial. No penetration through core or other side of sandwich.
Major Core Same damage as Minor Core damage except a large portion of core will have to
be replaced. No penetration of other side of sandwich or laminate damage.
Sandwich Pene-
tration
Both sides of sandwich penetrated, laminate of both sides requires repair and core
section must be replaced.