Active Infrared Thermography

in Non-destructive Testing
M. Hain, J. Bartl, V. Jacko
Institute of Measurement Science
Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Bratislava, Slovak Republic
e-mail: hain@savba.sk
Outline of the presentation
Motivation of the research
Basic physical principle of infrared thermography
Passive / Active infrared thermography
Numerical modelling of heat propagation in non-
homogenious environment
Finite elements method
Description of the experiment
Results
Aplications
Conclusions
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Motivation for the research
Development of fast, non-contact and reliable method for
non-destructive revealing of hidden non-homogenities
(defects) inside 3D objects.
For this purpose also the X-ray radiography or CT tomography are very
effective tools with superior resolution but they have several limitations:
1. limited size of objects under test,
2. transmissive methods - require access from both side of the object,
3. cant be used for in situ testing
24. 5. 2009 Measurement 2009, Smolenice 3
source of
radiation
detector
source of
radiation
detector
transmissive method
reflective method
Basic physical principle of infrared
thermography
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Bodies with T>0 are emitting thermal radiation
Energy in wavelength band (, +d) emitted from unity of surface per unity
of time to a half-space is described by
Plancks law of radiation
1
1 2
) (
5
2

=
kT
hc
e
hc
T M

t
T
M (T)

Passive / Active infrared thermography

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Passive infrared thermography
Thermal radiation emitted from objects surface is scanned by infrared
camera, and gives information about the surface temperature of the
object in thermal equilibrium.
Active infrared thermography
The object under test is thermally excited - usually irradiated by a source
of infrared radiation. In this case the object is in non-equilibrium state
and the transient temperature field measured by thermographic camera
provides information about the thermo-physical properties, defects and
inhomogenities inside the object.
Active methods:
- pulse methods
- lock-in (modulated) methods
- pulse phase methods
The principle and basic set-up of pulse active
infrared thermography system
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In the pulse thermography the
object under test is during a limited
time thermally excited by an
infrared source of radiation.
Some part of the IR radiation
incident on the objects surface is
absorbed and transformed into a
thermal energy, which propagates
by thermal diffusion from surface
to the inward of the object.
Subsurface defects change
thermal diffusion rate and
therefore they can by detected as
surface areas of different
temperature with respect to normal
areas.
Optimal design of the pulse active
thermographic system
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To make an optimal design of the pulse active infrared thermographic
system we have to answer these questions:
1. How long should be the object under test irradiated?
2. How much infrared energy should be absorbed in the object?
3. How long should be the delay between thermal excitation (irradiation)
and sensing of the thermographic image?
4. What should be the minimal thermal sensitivity (NETD) of the
thermographic camera?
To find quantitative answers to these questions we need to create and
solve a model of heat propagation in non-homogeneous environment.
The thermal energy propagation within the material can be described by
Fouriers partial differential equation
where T is absolute temperature (K),
t is time (s),
Q is supplied thermal energy (J),
is mass density of the material (kg.m
-3
),
C
p
is specific heat capacity at constant pressure (J.kg
-1
.K
-1
),
k is thermal conductivity (W.m
-1
.K
-1
).
Heat propagation in material
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Q T k
t
T
C
p
= V V +
c
c
) . .( .
Heat propagation in material
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In very simple cases it is possible to find analytical solution of the heat
propagation problem.
In the case of complex non-homogeneous 3D objects it is necessary to
use numerical solution of the Fouriers differential equation.
One of the suitable methods is finite element method FEM.
Finite Element Method
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The basic concept of this method is to divide the area of solution into smaller
parts called finite elements, connected at nodal points (mesh generation).
In each node the physical equilibrium equation is defined, and on the objects
boundary the boundary conditions are defined.
In this way the physical problem described by partial differential equation
PDE is break down into linear system of equations.
For thermal FEM simulation of active thermography method the Comsol
Multiphysics program was used.
Numerical modelling of heat propagation in
non-homogenious environment
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For the heat propagation model the Fouriers PDE equation was used with the
following assumptions:
1. heat energy is exchanged between object and surrounding only through upper side
of the object
2. upper side of the object is irradiated by the IR radiation
3. the energy equilibrium through the upper side of the body is described by the border
equation
( ) ) ( . ) . .(
4
4
T T h T T T k
a s
+ + u = V co c n
where T is temperature of the object,
T
s
is temperature of the surrounding (background),
T
a
is temperature of the air layer next to object,
is emissivity of the objects surface,
h is heat transfer coefficient (W.m
-2
.K
-1
)
Results of FEM modelling
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Temperature field of the object with
subsurface defect irradiated by IR radiation
pseudo-colour presentation of FEM model
results
Time evolution of the temperature along the
surface line of the object with subsurface
defect irradiated by IR radiation results from
FEM model
Modelling parameters:
material gypsum
heat flux 500W/m
2
Thermal contrast maximization
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To find the optimal time for observation, we will evaluate thermal
contrast defined as:
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) 0
s s
s d
T
T t T
t T t T
t C

=
where T
d
(t) is surface temperature of defect area,
T
s
(0) is surface temp. of sound area before heating pulse is applied,
T
s
(t) is surface temperature of sound area at the time t
thermal contrast between defect and sound area
Analysis of the thermal contrast
shows a local extreme at the time
360s after start of the heating
pulse.
Experiment
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To prove the theory and FEM modeling results, the experimental active
thermographic measurements were done.
Basic set-up of the measuring system consist from thermographic camera
NEC San-ei Thermo Tracer TH7102WX and two IR panel heaters.
The camera is equipped with
FPA micro-bolometric array
320x240; cameras
instantaneous field of view is
1.6 mrad. Distance camera -
object under test was 0.625
m; it corresponds to the
spatial resolution 1 mm on
the objects surface.
Experiment
Object under test
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Front
Rear
Material: concrete, gypsum
Experimental results
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Thermogram of the object
under test with subsurface
defect in the middle
Thermogram shows the temperature field of the objects surface after IR
heating pulse was applied; in the middle of the thermogram a defect area is
clearly identifiable.
Temperature difference between defect and sound area is around 2.5 K, as it
was predicted by the theory and FEM simulations.
Applications of the active infrared
thermography.
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- non-destructive testing of building materials
- non-destructive testing of airplanes
- non-destructive testing of cultural artefacts frescoes
and wall paintings
Application of the active infrared thermography.
non-destructive testing of frescoes
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Before thermal excitation
After thermal excitation
Frescoes in the church St. Stephans in ilina
Discussion and conclusions
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The finite element method was successfully used for the modelling of
thermal energy propagation in 3D objects with subsurface defects.
Simulation results have allowed optimization of the active infrared
thermographic method, optimal setting of heat pulse parameters and
the thermogram observation time.
In the active thermography experiments special care should be taken if
the emissivity of the surface is non-uniform, or the surface of the object
is non-uniformly irradiated by the IR source. This can introduce
temperature gradients on the objects surface similar to changes
induced by subsurface defects, and therefore these non-uniformities
should be eliminated.
Results of FEM simulations were experimentally verified in laboratory
experiments.
Active pulse thermography method was successfully used at the
investigation of frescos and mural paintings.
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Thank you for your attention!