Nondestructive evaluation of carbon fibre reinforced composites with infrared thermography and ultrasonics

Infrared thermography and phased array ultrasonic are used to detect defects and impact damage in carbon fibre reinforced composites. Apart from its use as non-destructive evaluation technique, infrared thermography is also employed to record a video during the impact event. The visualization of thermal signatures, caused by local dissipation of impact energy, allows gaining information which is useful for understanding the material response to impact. In particular, the two techniques allow for estimation, in a reliable way, of the overall delamination extension which is of utmost importance for material design purposes.