Thermographic Non-destructive Evaluation of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Plates After Tensile Testing

Infrared thermography (IT) is a safe non-destructive evaluation technique that has a fast inspection rate and is generally contactless. It is used for diagnostics and monitoring in several fields including composite materials. In this paper carbon fiber-reinforced polymer plates submitted to tensile testing are inspected using IT. More specifically, carbon/polyether ether ketone panels made of random-oriented strands by compression moulding are submitted to tensile testing and then inspected using three different IT active approaches. The first two approaches use optical sources however with different scanning modes. The first active approach tested is a static surface scanning inspection in reflection mode. The second one is a dynamic line scanning technique where the energy source and camera are in movement with regards to the test sample. The last active IT approach tested uses a mechanical source (ultrasound excitation) to transfer heat to the sample being tested. This last approach is commonly called vibrothermography. Results obtained were then compared to results obtained by micro computed tomography inspection and microscopy. Results revealed voids associated with resin-rich regions as well as cracks.