December 2001

Welcome to The CTMA Connector, a monthly newsletter designed to provide news and ideas about the Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) program. The CTMA program is a joint Department of Defense/National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (DoD/NCMS) effort promoting collaborative technology development between industry and the DoD maintenance and repair facilities. This newsletter highlights ongoing projects, serves as a forum for promoting new project ideas, and provides other news of interest to the program. Our goal is to stimulate your participation and solicit your input. Feel free to submit items for the newsletter as well as any suggestions to make it more useful. More information about the program can be found at http://ctma.ncms.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CTMA Connector, send a message to listmanager@ncms.org with "subscribe CTMANewsletter" or "unsubscribe CTMANewsletter" in the subject line.

Ongoing Project News

House and Senate negotiators on the Defense Authorization bill have reached a compromise on another round of base closings. Senators agreed to delay closures from 2003, as they had proposed, until 2005, resolving a dispute that held up approval of the legislation for more than a month.

Composite Processing Substitution Methodology

In the wake of the terrorist attacks and the subsequent war on terrorism, we all are striving to lend our strengths and abilities to the war effort.  One of our CTMA projects, Composite Processing Substitution Methodology, is having a direct impact. An industrial participant on the project, General Atomics, is the manufacturer of the unmanned aircraft, the Predator, which is being used extensively in Afghanistan. The technology being developed under the CTMA project is being used to extend the performance envelope for the all-composites structure on the Predator. The "Process Substitution Methodologies" have provided substantiating data on a significantly reduced time scale resulting in lower cost and higher confidence when compared to traditional methods. General Atomics is using the autoclave control system and supporting methodologies developed by AvPro as part of the CTMA project. Other participants include the air logistics centers at Ogden and Oklahoma City, and the Corpus Christi Army Depot. Further information is available from Chuck Ryan, 734-995-4905.

In August, 2001, NCMS issued a report examining in depth the current state of technology for air pollution control systems for paint operations. The report grew out of a feasibility study conducted under the CTMA program for the Barstow Marine Corps Multi-commodity Maintenance Center.

The report singled out two options as particularly suitable for the types of painting and coating operations carried out at military facilities (and at many commercial facilities). Option 1, making the most efficient use of currently available technology, combines trapping pollutants out of a high volume air stream from the paint process, and regenerating the trap using a lower volume air stream through a thermal oxidation system. Option 2, more future-oriented, makes use of advanced processes such as biological destruction to avoid the operating costs associated with fuel consumption, and to take into account potential restrictions which may arise in the future from global warming concerns.

A new project is being organized to test a biological treatment system in an existing military painting operation. The currently installed air pollution control system at Barstow offers a unique opportunity to both measure the effectiveness of the system, and to verify that currently available systems are compatible with day-to-day operations. Lessons learned during this study will be broadly applicable to other installations, both military and commercial.

For more information, please contact Paul Chalmer at NCMS, (734) 995-4911.

Damage and Wear Assessment using Acoustic Emissions Technology

Demonstrations and presentations have been made to a variety of potential users of Acoustic Emission (AE) technology to examine the "health" of rotating equipment. The advantages of the chosen AE technology over the existent practices using Vibration Analysis (VA) are that of lower cost, simplicity, and earlier damage/wear/misalignment detection. A CTMA project is emerging that will both compare AE results with conventional VA monitoring and explore applications where there is no current monitoring program in place.

Machine Condition Monitoring is emerging as a replacement for periodic Preventative Maintenance as the means of choice for assuring the on-line availability of productive assets. Condition Based Monitoring provides timely information regarding the need for corrective action, yet avoids spending time on equipment which is operating without a problem. The particular AE approach chosen provides a very early indication of problems, allowing attention before irreversible damage takes place.

In addition to several plants of the Ford Motor Company, an NCMS member company, interest has been shown by M&M Mars, Miller Brewing, Cooper Tire, Procter & Gamble, and Rayonier Corporation. The DoD groups agreeing to participate include the Portsmouth Navy Shipyard, the Barstow, CA US Marine Corp. Logistics Base, the USMC Albany, GA Logistics Base and the Red River US Army depot. Dr. Emmanuel Ayorinde of Wayne State University will act as the principal technical resource and the AE technology is that of WaterWeights, Inc. via an exclusive agreement with Holroyd Instruments of Scotland.

The expected project kickoff is the beginning of the 2nd quarter, 2002. Please contact Paul Duvall, 904-261-2832, for further details.

Retrograde Parts Identification Using Second Generation Marking and Reading Techniques Program

On December 6, 2001, the Aging Landing Gear Life Extension (ALGLE) Program at Hill AFB, UT, hosted a project definition meeting for the CTMA project titled Retrograde Parts Identification Using Second Generation Marking and Reading Techniques. The purpose of the meeting was to provide depot maintenance engineers an opportunity to articulate their permanent part marking needs on at least two dimensions:

1. Marks that will survive harsh operational and overhaul environments, and

2. Marking and reading equipment that is portable.

Approximately 35 individuals involved in the parts marking industry and maintenance depot activities were present. Presentations from the USAF, NAVAIR, NASA, and others identified the challenges they face in marking and reading information on parts that are exposed to harsh environments. Representatives from the ALGLE Program presented data gathered from tests performed on several coupons of various materials using eight marking technologies. The ALGLE Program concluded that current markers and readers do not provide a reliable system for part tracking. Specifically, the ALGLE Program identified three problems:

1. Obtaining a mark with sufficient depth for overhaul process survivability,

2. Mark readability for high strength steel, and

3. Decoding marks after plating and painting.

Following the presentations and group discussions, RVSI was asked to lead the development of a proposal with five initial tasks:

1. Develop and test new marking methods for use in harsh environments

2. Develop methods and techniques for restoring mark readability in the field

3. Design, manufacture, and test a family of portable marking systems

4. Develop and test read-through-paint readers

5. Investigate and/or develop a rapid method to apply painted human readable code and machine-readable code to installed parts; I.E. a landing strut.

Similar meetings are being scheduled at other maintenance facilities that are actively engaging the need for permanent part marking and seeking solutions to problems encountered.

If you wish to participate in this project and contribute to its success, contact Gary Burkart, 612 839-4567.

Calendar Items

New Project Ideas (click on topics to see descriptions)