Summary
Video-thermography, the time-resolved observation of infrared radiation, is a nondestructive inspection technique which offers many potential applications in the study of material behavior. The present work emphasizes detection of damage in both homogeneous and composite materials. This work differs from most others because the materials are subjected to some steady-state mechanical energy, such as fatigue loads or low-amplitude vibrations, that activates heat sources near the damaged regions. Experimental observations are discussed for a variety of materials, including boron/aluminum, boron/epoxy, graphite/epoxy, aluminum, and plastics. Thermography has been used to investigate initiation and progression of subsurface damage caused by fatigue; vibrothermography has been used to locate delaminations and similar damaged regions. Discussed are several analytical studies of the relation between evolution of heat and the stress field in the region of the damaged zone, and the expected surface heat pattern from a subsurface heat source in an anisotropic material.
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Henneke, E.G., Reifsnider, K.L. & Stinchcomb, W.W. Thermography — An NDI Method for Damage Detection. JOM 31, 11–15 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03354475
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03354475