Reliable trials in less time

2007/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Aeronautika

The Centre for Aeronautical Technologies (CTA) has launched the first European advanced laboratory for carrying out HALT tests (Hightly Accelerated Life Tests), with the aim of obtaining more reliable tests in less time in the aeronautical and spatial sectors.

The objective is to perform resistance and fatigue tests on aerospace components in less time than conventional tests. It will take several hours or days to do so, but with current techniques need weeks and months.

The HALT tests aim to maximize the useful life of the components, so that the defects that can cause tension changes or others can be detected quickly and significantly. This technology accelerates the fatigue of the products and, therefore, helps to know the defects and the reliability of them. In this way, once unexpected results are obtained, you can adapt and correct the design in time.

In the production of new products, test campaigns have a significant impact on costs and deadlines. These two factors constitute the main advantages of HALT trials. In addition, they offer greater reliability.

Another characteristic feature of HALT trials is that they are performed during the testing phase and not during the production process. In this way, the product can be improved in this same phase.

In the new CTA laboratory, A400M will apply the first results of HALT technology in devices similar to the latest generation transport plane.