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This article describes the development and validation of a novel thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) system based on a low-cost microbolometer device. The use of a microbolometer for a highly synchronous and delicate temperature measurement breaks a longstanding and exclusive reliance on high performance, cooled photon detectors for thermoelastic applications. It is shown that despite markedly inferior noise equivalent temperature detectivity and dynamic response specifications, microbolometers are capable of achieving comparable levels of stress measurement performance. The practical implications for experimental stress analysis are significant. Microbolometers are relatively low in capital cost, small in size, have good tolerance to shock and vibration and consume less power than their photon counterparts, attributes that confer enormous practical advantages. It is argued that the emergence of TSA systems that are more affordable and better suited to in-service application could help to promote a much broader use of this powerful technique in applications across the life cycle of high value civil, maritime and aerospace assets, from the validation of finite element modelling for design to in-service structural integrity assessment. A full-scale fatigue test of a flight-critical aircraft structural component is employed as a case study to demonstrate important aspects of the capability. Future directions in the development and application of low-cost miniaturised systems are also discussed.

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