An optimization method for evaluating variations in paint coating thickness by infrared thermography

Abstract

This paper is focused on the optimization of the pulsed thermography inspection of coating thickness. To this aim, an analysis method was developed for evaluating variations of coating thickness using active infrared thermography. This method, based on a linear decomposition of thermographic surface response evolution, uses a Partial Least Squares Regression algorithm to identify different phenomena affecting the overall thermal responses. Results show that the proposed technique allows to overcome the experimental conditions (positions, intensity) of heating sources and to enhance the robustness of the pulsed thermography technique for coating thickness heterogeneity evaluation.