In our article series “Testia Experts”, we present short interviews with our employees – the experts that really make Testia what it is. In this issue we speak with Benjamin, who shares his vision about how to move toward automation for the visual inspections of composite materials.
You can also watch this interview on YouTube.
Can you introduce yourself?
Hello, I’m Benjamin Dersoir, Product Owner at Testia. I’m in charge of visual inspection for composite materials and rivet assembly. My day-to-day role is to develop and support our products dedicated to vision inspection in the world of composites and rivet inspection. To do this, I work on a daily basis with my colleagues from the R&D team to develop new, innovative solutions for industrial vision inspection.
What made you specialize in composite materials?
It was a real challenge from the optical inspection perspective. Since composite materials are both highly oriented and have specific properties in terms of reflection, inspecting this kind of materials using artificial lighting and cameras represents a real challenge from a design perspective.
What is the most promising trend in composites?
The trend in new composite materials that I’m most interested in right now is the entire automation process phase. Currently, we still rely on a process that is mostly manual. But to meet future production rates, and because composites are expected to be a major element in tomorrow’s aircraft, we will need to automate processes more and more. And with process automation comes the need to automate inspection as well – moving from visual inspection by an operator to inspection by an industrial vision system. And this is where we start our journey into composite materials.
What are the next challenges for carbon fiber?
To me, the main challenge is about automated inspection. We are dealing with a highly anisotropic material, which responds very distinctly in one orientation, with reflections that are sometimes complex to manage. The whole challenge was to find optical solutions that provide the most uniform response possible across different orientations and different materials that we may encounter in this type of application.
Is there any interesting anecdote from your work that you can share with us?
Not exactly an anecdote. Instead, I’ll highlight the fact that Testia allows me, through a specific agreement between Testia and the Fire and Rescue Departmental Service, to balance my work as a Product Owner with my commitment as a volunteer firefighter.
Watch the video interview on YouTube
Thanks for taking the time for this interview!
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