Material Evaluation by Infrared Thermography

Abstract

Infrared thermography uses the temperature-imaging capability of modern thermal cameras to characterize materials and detect flaws. An energy source—whether a pulse of light from a laser or flash lamp, an induction coil, or some other source—induces heat flow in a material, and the resulting temperature patterns are imaged with the thermal camera. In flash thermography, the most widely used form of quantitative thermography, a pulse of light is used as the energy source, and then the surface cooldown is imaged with the thermal camera. Calculations based on an elementary theory of 1D heat conduction can determine thickness (or, equivalently, thermal diffusivity), and nonuniformity in the cooldown will identify defects. This article reviews the methods, approaches, and models of thermography. It focuses on illustrating and identifying the materials, thicknesses, and flaw conditions under which thermography is an effective material characterization technique.