Active Thermography: fundamental research and applications

Active Thermography is a remote non-contact and non-destructive testing method that involves an externally applied and well-controlled activation of thermal waves, yielding highly reproducible full-field images and videos of the surface temperature of objects with an extreme sensitivity. Dedicated processing algorithms allow to meticulously map out the smallest changes in the acquired IR image coming from sub-surface flaws and anomalies such as cast , forging- or thermo-drawn voids and cracks, delaminations, and moisture ingress. The technique will also be applied for reliability inspection of mechatronics components exposed to a wide spectrum of environmental loading, and to map out the (local anisotropy of) thermal conductivity for short fiber reinforced polymer (SFRP) products and blends, as well as to determine the different cooling rates throughout polymer products in polymer processing. The acquired experimental data will be used in support of modelling and inverse problem solving focused on material characterization, defect/flaw detection and dependability assurance of electronic systems and assembled joints in industrial products. Apart from fundamental research, the high-end versatile apparatus will also be exploited for service to companies within the co-creation site of Flanders Make at Kortrijk.

Keywords:Active Thermography, Defect detection, Material characterisation, Anisotropic thermal conductivity, Dependability assurance, Fibre Reinforced Polymers

Disciplines:Heat transfer, Sensing, estimation and actuating, Destructive and non-destructive testing of materials, Short and long fibre reinforced composites