Matched filter based post processing approach for active infrared thermography for non-destructive testing and evaluation of carbon fibre reinforced polymer materials

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Abstract

This research paper investigates the effectiveness of infrared thermography (IRT) in detecting blind holes of varying depth and diameter in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sample. It utilises halogen lamps as the heat source and implements three excitation techniques: Pulse Thermography (PT), Lock-in Thermography (LT) and Frequency Modulation Thermal Wave Imaging (FMTWI); along with that, it compares two post-processing approaches, Cross-correlation (CC) and Frequency Domain Phase (FDP) on the obtained thermal images. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is considered a figure of merit for evaluating the effectiveness of each technique and its associated post-processing approaches. The results demonstrate that the CC post-processing technique consistently outperforms the FDP method in enhancing defect visibility and improving SNR values across all excitation techniques and configurations. This research highlights the potential of IRT as a reliable, non-destructive testing method for detecting and characterising defects in a chosen CFRP test sample.

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About the authors

Suresh Kumar Bhambhu

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Email: mulaveesala@sense.iitd.ac.in

InfraRed Imaging Laboratory (IRIL), Centre for Sensors, Instrumentation and Cyber Physical System Engineering (SeNSE)

 

India, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016

Vanita Arora

InfraRed Vision & Automation Pvt. Ltd.

Email: mulaveesala@sense.iitd.ac.in
India, Rupnagar, Punjab, 140001

Ravibabu Mulaveesala

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Author for correspondence.
Email: mulaveesala@sense.iitd.ac.in

InfraRed Imaging Laboratory (IRIL), Centre for Sensors, Instrumentation and Cyber Physical System Engineering (SeNSE)

India, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. Sketch of a cross-shaped specimen made of AISI 304 steel for biaxial tensile testing (a); working area of ​​a biaxial testing machine with a cross-shaped specimen made of AISI 304 steel installed (b).

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3. Fig. 2. Sinusoidal thermal characteristic at a frequency of 1 Hz (a); Fourier transform of the sinusoidal thermal characteristic (b).

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4. Fig. 3. Thermal characteristic with linear frequency modulation (a); Fourier transform of thermal characteristic with linear frequency modulation (b).

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5. Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the adapted post-processing approach for obtaining correlation coefficient images: T(xref, yref, t) is the reference temperature response; T(xi, yi, t) is the specified location of the temperature response; FT is the Fourier transform; IFT is the inverse Fourier transform.

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6. Fig. 5. Pulse compression of a linear frequency-modulated thermal response using a matched filter.

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7. Fig. 6. Scheme of extracting magnetic and phase images of a frame using the frequency domain approach.

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8. Fig. 7. Experimental setup used for active infrared thermography.

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9. Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of the experimental CFRP sample with defects of different depths and diameters.

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10. Fig. 9. Thermograms of experimental CFRP samples obtained using different thermal excitation schemes (PT, LT, FM) and corresponding post-processing approaches (CC and FDP): CC PT for 71 s (a); FDP PT at 0.04 Hz (b); CC LT for 79 s (c); FDP LT at 0.05 Hz (d); CC FM for 88 s (e); FDP FM at 0.09 Hz (e).

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11. Fig. 10. SNR plots obtained for the CFRP prototype using different thermal excitation schemes and corresponding post-processing approaches (cross-correlation and phase analysis in the frequency domain): CCPT at 71 s (a); FDP PT at 0.04 Hz (b); CCLT at 79 s (c); FDP LT at 0.05 Hz (d); CC FM at 88 s (d); FDP FM at 0.09 Hz (e).

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