Characterizing Depth of Defects with Low Size/Depth Aspect Ratio and Low Thermal Reflection by Using Pulsed IR Thermography

This study is focused on the quantitative estimation of defect depth by applying pulsed thermal nondestructive testing. The majority of known defect characterization techniques are based on 1D heat conduction solutions, thus being inappropriate for evaluating defects with low aspect ratios. A novel method for estimating defect depth is proposed by taking into account the phenomenon of 3D heat diffusion, finite lateral size of defects and the thermal reflection coefficient at the boundary between a host material and defects. The method is based on the combination of a known analytical model and a non-linear fitting (NLF) procedure. The algorithm was verified both numerically and experimentally on 3D-printed polylactic acid plastic samples. The accuracy of depth prediction using the proposed method was compared with the reference characterization technique based on thermographic signal reconstruction to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed NLF method.