Probability of defect detection in pulse compression favourable thermal excitation schemes for infra-red non-destructive testing

Abstract

InfraRed non-destructive testing and evaluation (IRNDT&E) has emerged as a promising approach for non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) of various materials because of its inherent merits such as remote, non-invasive, qualitative as well as quantitative inspection capabilities. Among the various IRNDT&E techniques, recently proposed modulated pulse compression favourable thermal wave imaging (PCTWI) techniques, especially frequency modulated thermal wave imaging (FMTWI) and its digitised version digitised FMTWI (DFMTWI) have gained popularity over the conventional sinusoidal modulated [lock-in thermography (LT)] and pulse-based thermographic techniques [pulse thermography (PT) and pulse phase thermography (PPT)] by providing better depth resolution, in less experimentation time, using low peak power excitation heat sources. The present work highlights a comparative study on highly depth resolved continuous depth scanning PCTWI techniques, with single frequency thermal excited LT, on the basis of defect detection probability. The proposed study has been carried out on a glass fibre reinforced polymer test sample with Teflon inserts as defects by considering peak side lobe ratio as a figure of merit. The experimental results clearly show that the probability of detection of defects for DFMTWI is far superior as compared to FMTWI and LT.