Infrared Thermography and Its Applications in Aircraft Non-destructive Testing

It is an increasing number of the applications of new materials in modern aircraft manufacture, especially composites are largely used in some key parts, such as the rudder and wing. However, more non-destructive problems appear because of the restriction of the traditional non-destructive testing methods for the new materials. In this paper, the principle of infrared thermography about two kinds of heat stimulation methods is introduced, several composite and metal materials used in the aircraft is manufactured as the specimen for the inspection experiments, the temperature decreasing data after heat stimulation is processed and the defects are shown in the thermal images, furthermore, the results of CFRP impact damages inspected by using different kinds of heat stimulations are shown as a comparison, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods for this kind of material is analyzed, In addition, the characteristic and develop trend of this technology in aircraft is summarized.