A study of active thermography approaches for the non-destructive testing and evaluation of aerospace structures

摘要

The prerequisite for more competent and cost effective aircraft has led to the evolution of innovative testing and evaluation procedures. Non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT & E) techniques for assessing the integrity of anaircraft structure are essential to both reduce manufacturing costs and out of service time of aircraft due to maintenance.Nowadays, active — transient thermal NDT & E (i.e. thermography) is commonly used for assessing aircraft composites.This research work evaluates the potential of pulsed thermography (PT) and/or pulsed phase thermography (PPT) forassessing defects (i.e. impact damage and inclusions for delaminations) on GLARE and GLARE type composites.Finally, in the case of the detection of inserts — delaminations C-Scan ultrasonic testing was also used with the intentionof providing supplementary results.