The Quantitative Defects Detection in composite material using Optical Infrared Thermography

摘要

Infrared thermography has increasingly broaden its capability to a variety of industrial fields as a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) method. Composite material, known to be difficult to inspect using conventional NDT methods, is now frequently examined by infrared thermography. Ultrasonic C-scan had been used as a main inspection method for the material, but it has shown difficulties in detecting defects due to the complex material structure. In this study, artificial defects were measured quantitatively, using optical infrared thermography NDT, which were in a wind turbine blade specimen and a reference specimen made of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) and Glass Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) composite materials. Experimental results shows 98% accuracy in sizing the defects with the optical infrared thermography NDT.