Methods and systems for real-time, in-process measurement of coatings on substrates of aerospace components

1. A method for measuring a thickness of a coating comprising:

illuminating a substrate and at least one coating with light waves of varying wavelengths between 1700 nm and 2500 nm from a light source;

receiving the light waves reflected by a top surface of the coating on the substrate at a light collector;

receiving the light waves reflected by a bottom surface of the coating on the substrate at the light collector;

diffracting the light waves into a plurality of component wavelengths with a grating;

detecting light intensities of the plurality of component wavelengths at a detector array; and

calculating a thickness of the at least one coating from the detected light intensities.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises aluminum.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate forms part of an aerospace component.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating is a wet coating, wherein the method further comprises calculating a wet thickness of the wet coating from a percentage of solids by volume in the wet coating.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source forms part of a system, wherein the system further comprises a sensor, wherein one of the substrate and the sensor is moving.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is static.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source is in a connected relationship with the light collector via a fiber optic cable.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source is spaced apart from the light collector.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light source is tungsten halogen broadband light source.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises curing the at least one coating.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the curing the at least one coating occurs prior to calculating the thickness of the at least one coating.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the curing the at least one coating occurs after calculating the thickness of the at least one coating.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein curing the at least one coating comprises heating the substrate in a curing oven.

14. A system for measuring a thickness of a coating, the system comprising:

a processor;

a light source in communication with the processor, the light source configured to illuminate a substrate and a coating with light waves of varying wavelengths between 1700 nm and 2500 nm;

a detection module in communication with the processor comprising:

a light collector configured to receive light waves reflected by the substrate;

a grating configured to diffract the light waves into a plurality of component wavelengths;

a detector array configured to detect light intensities of each of the plurality of component wavelengths;

a memory in communication with the processor, wherein the memory comprises computer program code executable by the processor configured to:

calculate a thickness of the coating from the detected light intensities;

display the calculated thickness of the coating in real-time.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the substrate forms part of an aerospace component.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the substrate comprises aluminum.

17. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a sensor, wherein one of the substrate and the sensor is configured to move.

18. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a sensor, wherein the substrate is configured to be static.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the light source is spaced apart from the detection module.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the light source is in a connected relationship with the light collector via an extended fiber optic cable.