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

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.

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.