Post-processing of time-sequences acquired during impact tests with the aid of a reference area

The aim of this paper is concerned with post-processing of thermal images, acquired during impact tests of composite materials, with the aid of a reference unloaded specimen. The use of a reference area was already proposed by the authors to eliminate the detector noise while measuring small temperature variations. As a next step, now the use of a specimen identical to the loaded one (same material and surface finishing), is proposed as reference for evaluating temperature variations, which can be exploited for assessing the extension of the impact damaged zone as well as of the overall impact affected area.