Rapid thermal non-destructive testing of aircraft components

This paper compares the use of different thermal non-destructive testing te chniques to rapidly inspect carbon fibre composite aircraft components. Sam ples were prepared to simulate inclusions and barely visible impact damage in carbon fibre reinforced plastic laminate which represent faults in tho m anufacturing process and in-service environment respectively. The limits of material fault detection were then compared for transient and lock-in ther mography and the results were verified with underwater ultrasonic c-scans. The paper concludes that lock-in thermography is a more powerful technique to detect impact damage and that transient thermography is more suitable fo r detecting inclusions. Thermal non-destructive testing is up to 30 times q uicker than underwater ultrasonic c-scanning and may ultimately provide the solution to the problem of rapid quantitative in-service and manufacturing process inspection of commercial aircraft components. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.