Testia, an

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

company, is a training, services and products provider for

aerostructure An aerostructure is a component of an aircraft's airframe. This may include all or part of the fuselage, wings, or flight control surfaces. Companies that specialize in constructing these components are referred to as "aerostructures manufacturer ...

testing and

Non-Destructive Testing Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...

(NDT). It has been fully owned by Airbus since 2013.

Current activities

Testia (under "NDT Expert" name at that time) was launched by Aerospatiale (now Airbus) research center in 1991 as an

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

-specialized player for Non-Destructive Testing. After several partnerships with industrial players as well as research centers, the company became the internal and external provider for inspection, training, consulting, engineering, periodic verification, fluids testing, Go/No-Go tools, multi-purpose equipment, augmented reality, drones, and remote assistance. These activities are leveraging the different techniques of NDT like

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

radiography Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeut ...

tomography Tomography is imaging by sections or sectioning that uses any kind of penetrating wave. The method is used in radiology, archaeology, biology, atmospheric science, geophysics, oceanography, plasma physics, materials science, astrophysics, quantu ...

, penetrant, infrared thermography,

magnetization In classical electromagnetism, magnetization is the vector field that expresses the density of permanent or induced magnetic dipole moments in a magnetic material. Movement within this field is described by direction and is either Axial or Di ...

shearography Shearography or Speckle pattern shearing interferometry is a measuring and testing method similar to holographic interferometry. It uses coherent light or coherent soundwaves to provide information about the quality of different materials in no ...

or Eddy current that allow the detection and assessment of a defect on metallic or composite materials ( CFRP, ALM, HRD). IRNDT fig 03 en

The company is a NADCAP organization for manufacturing and an

EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...

/ FAR PART 145 organization for in-service activities. In 2018, the company had 250 employees across 7 countries: France, UK, Spain, Germany, Canada, Singapore and Mexico. Due to the NDT market growth, the company is planning on opening in China and Middle-East in 2019.

History

In 1991, Airbus created Testia from its R&D department in order to keep up with the NDT technologies and ensure aircraft structural reliability, performance & quality. Across the following years, the company developed in being as well an external provider for NDT training & certification (NAS410/EN4179), services and products. This led to the creation of several Testia sites in France, Mexico (2011), UK (2013), Germany (2013), Spain (2013), Singapore (2014) and Canada (2018). In 2016 Testia was recognized for the launch of several products and software, like its NDT tool for A350XWB composite, the Augmented Reality to Spirit AeroSystems and its contribution to Airbus 'Hangar of the Future". In 2017, Testia started business in Structural Health Monitoring and was granted Customer Value Leadership award. As of April 2018, Testia is the launching partner of Airbus Advanced Inspection Drone.

References

{{Airbus Airbus subsidiaries and divisions Technology companies established in 1991 Aerospace companies Nondestructive testing French companies established in 1991