Study on the detectability of carbon fiber reinforced plastics composites using pulsed infrared thermography

Composite material is normally affected by anomalies such as delaminations and disbandings. Pulsed thermography is a new non-destructive inspection technology, which has been widely used in aerospace. In this paper, the detectability of pulsed infrared thermography is studied by establishing the theory for the detect ability of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). Meanwhile by utilizing the designed specimens buried with different depths, different sizes and different distances between adjacent flaws to represent disbonding and delamination in the CFRP composite material. The detectability of CFRP composites using pulsed infrared thermography is experimentally studied. The results of the experiment show that the designed defects in the CFRP with thickness of 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm are all detected. Meanwhile, the relationship between depth size and distance of adjacent flaws and detectability are analyzed. According to this study, it will provide some theoretical basis and experimental references for the inspection of the CFRP composites.