Combining heating and forced cooling: a new technique in active thermal NDT

Abstract

The theoretical and experimental results of applying a new method of infrared (IR) thermography nondestructive testing (NDT) based on the combination of optical heating and forced convection cooling are described. A properly chosen combination of two types of thermal stimulation has allowed to increase temperature contrasts in defect areas and reduce thermal loading on the samples. The 3D model of a scanning thermal flaw detector implementing the proposed inspection technique is presented.