Complementary coded thermal wave imaging scheme for thermal non-destructive testing and evaluation

Abstract

Active InfraRed Thermography (IRT) is an emerging te chnique in the field of Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E). In recent years, pulse compressi on supportive techniques and associated data proces sing schemes have been proposed by various research grou ps to enhance the inspection capabilities of these techniques as well as to make the experimentation simple and more reliable. This paper exploits a suitable complemen tary coded excitation for thermal NDT&E along with the associat ed pulse compression favorable data processing sche me. The proposed scheme has been implemented on a metallic sample in order to test its capabilities for subsur face defect detection and characterization.