Controls and tests procedures

Aviation
Railroad, Marine, Military
VIP Cars

Aviation

Saint-Gobain Sully guarantees the quality of its products via the control of all its industrial, design and installation processes.

A unitary control in accordance with the criteria established jointly with our customers, provides for strict respect of their requirements. This final unitary control is performed by personnel of the Quality Assurance Department. At the end of this control the sign off documents (Control Report, EASA Certificate of Navigability Form One..) are issued.

The appropriate resources for performing controls enable Saint-Gobain Sully to guarantee product conformity with the acceptance criteria, the electrical, geometrical and optical characteristics of each glass.

Electrical characteristics
Heating systems performance is characterised by the resistance of the heating network but also, in the case of coatings, by the factors of homogeneity (K factors). Unitary measurement with infra-red cameras guarantees the conformity of each heating area.

Throughout the product production cycle, heating system and regulation sensor resistance controls are performed. Insulation and dielectric controls between the different conductive elements are performed in order to ensure correct operation of the heating system;

Optical characteristics
As the primary function of a transparent surface, the control covers 3 aspects:

• Appearance defects
  It is a question of counting the number of defects contained in the transparent surfaces: impurities, dust, bubbles… Defects are measured with the help of a graduated magnifying lense placed on the transparent surface.
  The size and quantity of acceptable defects are defined in the acceptance criteria.
• Deflection
  It is a question of controlling an optical property inherent to the design of the transparency ( relation with the thickness of the glass, the number of components, its shape..). This control is essentially performed on the fighter's windshields and measures the deflection of a ray of light through glass.
• Distortion
  It is a question of observing the deformation of a grid seen through the item. This control is performed in accordance with the principles described in the ASTM 933 standard. The acceptance criteria are jointly determined with the customers, in accordance with their wishes.
• Geometrical characteristics
  The transparent item's mechanical characteristics are linked to the design and the performance of the materials used. Whatever the type of material (glass, acrylic resin), the mechanical properties of each component are checked to guarantee the performance of each window.
  Interchangeability of the windows is guaranteed by mastering their geometrical characteristics: dimensional, drilled holes dimensions and locations…. At each stage of the manufacturing process, those elements determining geometrical values are checked in relation to the design: It might be through the jig or even through the CNC machine programme. In all cases, the unitary geometrical control of the interchangeability characteristics of the window guarantees their conformity.
  Individual traceability is provided, enabling the complete history of the part to be known. It covers not only the constituent components of the window , but also the manufacturing procedures records, as well as the precise product configuration when it was produced. The extensive traceability is also performed for repaired transparent surfaces as records of the repairs performed are maintained in the original dossier.
  All those data are carefully stored.

Railroad, Marine, Military

Following is the check list of the inspection and tests points to go through in order to qualify and release a new product.

Depending on the characteristics of each product, we are used to conduct part or all of the following items :

VIP cars