Nondestructive evaluation of regeneratively cooled thrust chambers for rocket engines

Review of a development program for nondestructive tests applicable to hardware with electroformed nickel bonds. The four steps of the program include the selection of some most promising nondestructive evaluation methods out of existing methods, the fabrication of test panels for simulation of cooled thrust chamber walls with bonds of various integrities, the evaluation of the test panels by personnel without previous knowledge of the planned bond integrity, and the verification of actual bond strength in the test panels by destructive tests. Ultrasonics, acoustic emission and holography are evaluated in nondestructive testing applications.