The use of lock-in thermography in industrial applications

A feasibility study is made to search if lock-in thermography can be usefully employed in non-destructive evaluations of different materials of industrial interest. Several specimens made of different materials and with defects artificially created to simulate either delaminations, or cracks, or inclusions of spurious materials, are considered. Results prove that lock-in thermography is able to give information about thermophysical properties of materials as well as to detect defects and to determine their size, depth and nature in a quick and simple way. Some aspects linked to the use, fields of application and limitations of the technique are also discussed.