Non-destructive testing applications are one of the most crucial steps in maintaining aviation activities in a profitable and timely manner. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a functional technique that uses the thermal radiation/temperature relationship on the inspected structure to ensure efficient detection, in particular when the defect is on a surface or near the surface. Ultrasonic (UT) inspection is an alternative technique that uses the propagation of ultrasound waves into the inspected material for defect detection. While IRT suffers from detectability problems with the increasing structure thickness, UT has inspection limitations on the surface or near-surface area according to applied frequency. Overcoming these limitations of individual methods with the synergistic effect of the fusion approach might provide more precise and apparent marks for defect detection. In this study, decision-level fusion has been applied using the maximum fusion rule to combine unimodal inspection data and compare. Impact-defected Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composite structures have been chosen to represent aerospace structures. The results show the proposed fusion approach is promising in terms of identifying defect location, size and depth to inform further stages such as repair.
Composite materials have extensively been used in the aerospace industry. There are several inspection methods to ensure the safety of these composites; pulse thermography (PT) is one of the most promising ones. Both reflection and transmission modes of PT could be applied. However, few studies reveal the advantages and disadvantages of these two modes. This paper presents a quantitative comparison of pulsed thermal imaging in two modes of reflection and gradual heat transfer in carbon fibres. Experimental work was conducted on carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) samples with different thicknesses and thermal images were recorded in both modes. Thermal images were further processed using statistical analysis and machine learning algorithms. Comparing the results from both modes, there is a marked improvement in the accuracy when the reflection mode is employed.
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