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A new patented technology, Photon Induced Positron Annihilation (PIPA) has been developed that provides the capability to nondestructively detect fatigue, corrosion induced fatigue, radiation and embrittlement damage at < 1% of fatigue life. Further, PIPA can accurately assess defect levels and predict the remaining life of various metallic, composite, and polymeric materials. PIPA has demonstrated the capability to detect damage in 2nd layer materials, without disassembly. PIPA is insensitive to surface geometries and anomalies such as paint or rust. Because PIPA detects fatigue and embrittlement at the atomic level, the PIPA process is directly applicable to detecting the fatigue and manufacturing defect issues pertinent to composite and metallic alloy components used in the aerospace industry.