3D discrete model for thermal contrast enhancement and defects depth estimation in CFRP slabs.

Abstract

Two finite difference discretization approaches of the Fourier’s 3D heat propagation model are introduced, from which a new technique is proposed to enhance the thermal contrast of infrared sequences of images acquired from pulsed active thermography experiment for non-destructive testing of CFRP slabs. The discrete models defined are easily adaptable to a spatial filter structure, which can be applied to each image of the infrared sequence to obtain a better contrast between possible internal flaws and sound regions of material, and hence, a better probability of flaws detection. The performance of the technique proposed is evaluated using artificial thermal sequences generated by ThermoCalc6L, software that is able to compute dynamic thermal distributions in anisotropic layered solids, simulating internal defects and different excitation sets. Results show that this technique offers a better contrast between defects and image background than other relevant techniques like modified-differential absolute contrast, and a potentially faster execution than techniques based on thermal distribution reconstruction like the 3D thermal filtering method.