Capabilities of Lock-in Thermography for Non-destructive Inspection of Fibre Reinforced Composites

Kurzfassung

Fundamental knowledge of process parameters for the manufacturing of fibre reinforced composites is essential for design and engineering of high performance lightweight structures. This concerns oxide and non-oxide fibre reinforced ceramics (CMC) as well as reinforced polymers (e.g. CFRP). The manufacturing of a layered fibre reinforced composite structure is similar to a primary shaping process and demands an efficient and consistently process monitoring to ensure sufficient quality standards. Consequently, more detailed non-destructive investigations focusing the composite’s microstructure combined with the acquired knowledge of critical manufacturing process parameters are necessary. Optically excited lock-in thermography is a qualified and proven inspection technique that provides valuable information of the composite material’s microstructure. For more sophisticated signal interpretation, the lock-in thermography measurement results are compared with other non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques as reference.