Experimental Mechanics
DOI 10.1007/s11340-015-0019-z
Infrared Thermal Wave Imaging for Nondestructive Testing
of Fibre Reinforced Polymers
J.A. Siddiqui 1 & V. Arora 2 & R. Mulaveesala 1,2 & A. Muniyappa 1
Received: 21 August 2014 / Accepted: 25 March 2015
# Society for Experimental Mechanics 2015
Abstract Among various widely used InfraRed Thermal Non-
Destructive Testing (IRTNDT) modalities, Non-Stationary
Thermal Wave Imaging (NSTWI) techniques have proved to
be an indispensable approach for the inspection and evaluation
of various materials. Growing concern for the development of
surface and subsurface defect detection techniques with mod-
erate peak power heat sources (than the widely used conven-
tional pulse based thermographic methods) and in a reasonably
less testing time (compared to sinusoidal modulated lock-in
thermography), makes these NSTWI techniques invaluable
for this field. The present work highlights a comparative study
on various NSTWI techniques, further experimental results are
presented to find their defect detection capabilities by taking
signal to noise ratio (SNR) into consideration.
Keywords Fourier transform . Glass fiber reinforced
polymer . Carbon fiber reinforced polymer . Non-destructive
testing . Time domain phase images
Introduction
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials have been widely
used in aerospace industry due to their superior strength to
weight ratio along with high shock absorbing property. But
various defects like delamination, inclusion, fiber cut, crack
* R. Mulaveesala
ravibabucareiitd@yahoo.co.in
1
InfraRed Imaging Laboratory (IRIL), PDPM Indian Institute of
Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing Jabalpur, Dumna
Airport Road, Khamaria, Jabalpur 482 005, M.P., India
2
InfraRed Imaging Laboratory (IRIL), Department of Electrical
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Nangal Road,
Rupnagar 140001, Punjab, India
etc. developed during the manufacturing and application stages
reduce their in-service performance, which demands a rigorous
testing and evaluation method. Various testing schemes are
available to accomplish this task, among which IRTNDT is a
powerful tool as it is a remote and whole field method that
enables rapid investigations and detection of surface and sub-
surface defects [1]. It is carried out by heating the specimen
under inspection with pre-defined modulated heat flux [2].
Following the application of this heat flux, temporal tempera-
ture response over the specimen is captured with an infrared
camera and is processed for the identification of defects.
Of various active thermographic methods [3–29], Pulse
Thermography (PT) [3] and continuous wave Lock-in
Thermography (LT) [8–12] are widely used. In PT, a short-
duration high peak power stimulus is applied over test object
and the captured temporal temperature response is used to
reveal the details of the hidden defects (time period of stimulus
vary from few milliseconds for high conductive materials to a
few seconds for low conductive materials). Requirement of
high peak power heat sources for deeper subsurface analysis
and influence of non-uniform emissivity and heating over the
surface limit its applicability in spite of its simplicity. In com-
parison to PT, continuous thermal wave techniques make use
of low peak power heat sources and probe more energy into
the test object. Lock-in thermography (LT) is one among
them, which uses a periodic sinusoidal thermal excitation with
considerably low peak power at a particular frequency. LT
uses phase analysis for subsurface defect detection instead of
magnitude approach as it is less sensitive to non-uniform
heating and surface emissivity variations, in addition to its
deeper depth of penetration capability [13–29]. Pulsed phase
thermography (PPT) [1, 4, 5] makes use of similar excitation
as in PT but the phase analysis is carried out using Fourier
transform (FT). Choice of any of the above mentioned ther-
mographic technique depends on the intended application,
material properties, defect size and its thickness.
 Exp Mech

Among the various adjusting non-stationary thermal wave

imaging methods [13–29] this present experimental study focus-
es on various non-stationary thermographic techniques such as
Frequency Modulated Thermal Wave Imaging (FMTWI) [18],
Digitized version of FMTWI (DFMTWI) [13] and Barker
Coded Thermal Wave Imaging (BCTWI) [19, 20]. Further fre-
quency [13–23] and time domain based phase analysis [27–30]
have been carried out on the captured response to compare the
defect detection capabilities of the proposed schemes.

Theory

General thermal wave field equation in presence of source

function can be represented as follows [2]
1
▽ 2 T ðr; ωÞ−σ2 T ðr; ωÞ ¼ − Qðr; ωÞ ð1Þ Fig. 1 Top and cross-sectional views of the experimental (a) GFRP (b)
k
CFRP specimens (all dimensions are in mm)
Here,

iω12 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð1þi Þ
σ¼ ¼ ð1 þ iÞ ω=
T(r,ω) is the temperature at the α 2α ¼ μ is complex wave number
where, ⍵ is angular
coordinate of the
frequencies, α is thermal
observation point r with
diffusivity of sample and µ
respect to the origin.
is thermal diffusion length.
Q(r,ω) is harmonic source function.
k is the thermal conductivity
of the sample. General Solution of thermal wave field Refer to (1) [2]

α 
 
T ðr; ωÞ ¼ ∭v0 Qðr0 ; ωÞGðrjr0 ; ωÞdv0 þ α∮s0 G rjrs00 ; ω ▽ 0 T ðrs0 ; ωÞ−T ðrs0 ; ωÞ▽ 0 Gðrjrs0 ; ωÞ ds0 ð2Þ
k

Where, Where, T(z,ω) is the frequency domain temperature at a given

spatial location z,k is the thermal conductivity of the sample,
s0 is the surface surrounding the domain volume v0
T∞ is ambient temperature, however, T1(z,ω) is the frequency
G(r|r0,ω) is Green’s function and
domain dynamic temperature distribution in the presence of
rs00 is the coordinate point on s0.

The thermal diffusivity α and conductivity k, are assumed to

be independent of the coordinate in v0, ds0 indicates an infin-
itesimal vectorin the outward direction normal to boundary
surface s0. One-dimensional thermal diffusion wave equation
in the absence of any heat source and sink inside with an
incident modulated heat flux at one end of sample is given as:

∂2 T ðz; ωÞ 2
−σ T ðz; ωÞ ¼ 0 ð3Þ
∂z2

Boundary conditions
∂T ðz; ωÞ
−k jz¼0 ¼ F ½I ðt Þ ¼ I ðωÞ ð4Þ
∂z
∂T ðz; ωÞ
−k jz¼l ¼ 0 ð5Þ
∂z
Fig. 2 Schematic of experimental arrangement used for FM, DFM and
T ðz; ωÞ ¼ T 1 ðz; ωÞ−T ∞ ð6Þ Barker excitation schemes
Exp Mech

frequency domain representation of the incident heat flux

I(ω) can be represented as follows:
   
I ðωÞ e−2σl eσz I ðωÞ e−σz
T ðz; ωÞ ¼ þ ð8Þ
kσ 1−e−2σl kσ 1−e−2σl
 
I ðωÞ e−2σl eσz þ e−σz
T ðz; ωÞ ¼ ð9Þ
kσ 1−e−2σl
Fig. 3 Frequency domain based phase approach

A finite thickness sample can behave as semi-infinite with

high frequency thermal waves. For l→∞ the above finite
ambient temperature and σ is complex wave number. I(ω) is thickness sample solution can reduces to that of semi-infinite
Fourier transform of incident heat flux I(t) and for FMTWI, sample solution as follows:
DFMTWI and BCTWI excitation schemes ,I(ω) can be ob-
tained from the Fourier transform of the following time do- I ðωÞ −σz
T ðz; ωÞ ¼ ½e  ð10Þ
main representation of each and individual schemes as kσ
follows:
For FMTWI [14]: In frequency domain, the main functions which characterize

2 thermal wave system excited by I(t) are the auto spectrum and
Bt
I fmtwi ðt Þ ¼ T 0 e j2π ftþ 2D : cross spectrum which is given as:
Auto spectrum SII( f ) between I(t)
For DFMTWI [13]: Z ∞
X
S II ð f Þ ¼ RII ðτ Þe−2πifτ dτ ð11Þ
2 ∞ 1
k
I dfmtwi ðt Þ ¼ T 0 ð−1 Þ e jφ −∞
π k¼−∞ 2k þ 1
The auto spectral relations in Equation (11) may be simplified
For BCTWI [19]: to
Z ∞ Z ∞
X
4
RΙΙ ðτ Þcos2πfτdτ ¼ 2 RII ðτ Þcos2πf τ dτ
I bctwi ðt Þ ¼ T 0 ð−1Þni uðt−ai DÞ S II ð f Þ ¼
−∞ 0
i¼1
Where,
Where, ni =0, 1, 2, 3; ai =0, 3, 5, 6; T0 is the peak temperature, f is
the initial frequency, B is the bandwidth. D is the total duration of I(t) is input signal.
 
excitation, t is the time and φ ¼ 2πð2k þ 1Þ ft þ Bt
2 t is time
2D .
τ is time delay.
The general solution for equation (3) for a given incident RII(τ) is auto correlation between input signal, given as
heat flux I(ω) is given by
RII ðτ Þ ¼ lim T1 ∫0 I  ðt ÞI ðt þ τ Þdt
T
  T →∞
∂T ðz0 ; ωÞ
T ðz; ωÞ ¼ αGðzj0; ωÞ jz0 ¼0 :ni ð7Þ
∂z0 Cross spectrum SIO( f ) between I(t) and O(t)
Z ∞
Where, ni the inward unit vector. From equation (7) the S IO ð f Þ ¼ RIO ðτ Þe−2πifτ dτ ð12Þ
resultant temperature distribution for the chosen incident −∞

Fig. 4 Time domain based phase

approach [26, 28]
 Exp Mech

Where,
O(t) is output signal
RIO(τ) is cross correlation between input and output.
Z
1 T *
RIO ðτÞ ¼ lim I ðtÞOðt þ τÞdt
T→∞ T 0

These Equations (11) and (12) are often called the Wiener-
Khinchine relations, the Fourier transform relationship be-
tween correlation functions and spectral density functions.
The one-sided cross spectral density functions define as
Z ∞
GIO ð f Þ ≡ 2S IO ð f Þ ≡ 2 RIO ðτ Þe−2πifτ dτ ð13Þ (a) FMTWI (b) DFMTWI (c) BCTWI
−∞
Fig. 6 Phase images obtained from time domain analysis (GFRP
Which can be future define in terms of its real and imaginary specimen)
parts called coincident spectral density and quadrature spectral
density function This cross spectral magnitude and phase angle give the infor-
mation about frequency content and propagation time of ther-
GIO ð f Þ ¼ C IO ð f Þ−iQIO ð f Þ ð14Þ mal system excited by input I(t).
Where,
CIO( f )= coincident spectral density Multi Transform Techniques (Frequency and Time
2∫∞
− ∞RIO(τ)cos2πfτ dτ Domain)
QIO( f )= quadrature spectral density
2∫∞
− ∞RIO(τ)sin2πfτ dτ function Frequency domain phase analysis
The one-sided cross-spectral density function may be present-
In this approach, one-dimensional Fourier Transform (FT) is
ed in complex polar notation as
applied on the captured temporal thermal profile of each pixel
GIO ð f Þ ¼ jGIO ð f Þje− jθIO ð f Þ ð15Þ T(xi,n) (where n is the index in image sequence of total length
N) as follows [1, 4, 13–20]:
Where, the absolute value (magnitude) and phase angle are
1 X N −1
T ðxi ; nÞe½ N  ¼ RðuÞ þ jI ðuÞ
− j2πun
determined by F ðuÞ ¼ ð12Þ
N n¼0
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
jGIO ð f Þj ¼ C IO 2 ð f Þ þ QIO 2 ð f Þ where R(u) and I(u) are the real and imaginary components of
  F(u) respectively. Then the phase is computed for each of the
Q ðf Þ
θIO ð f Þ ¼ tan−1 IO transformed terms using:
C IO ð f Þ

−1 I ðuÞ
∅ ðuÞ ¼ tan ð13Þ
RðuÞ

(a) FMTWI (b) DFMTWI (c) BCTWI (a) FMTWI (b) DFMTWI (c) BCTWI
Fig. 5 Phase images obtained from frequency domain analysis (GFRP Fig. 7 Phase images obtained from frequency domain analysis (CFRP
specimen) specimen)
Exp Mech

an increment of 0.25 mm from the front surface of the speci-

men having 6.95 mm thickness, as shown in Fig. 1(a). The
CFRP specimen contains flat bottom hole defects of diameters
11, 12, 15 and 16 mm, located at depths 1.8 and 3.3 mm from
the front surface of the specimen having 6.8 mm thickness, as
shown in Fig. 1(b).
The present experimental study is carried out by imposing
a predefined non-stationary (i.e., FM (frequency sweep of
0.01 to 0.1 Hz in 100 s time span), DFM (digitized version
(a) FMTWI (b) DFMTWI (c) BCTWI of linear FM (frequency sweep of 0.01 to 0.1 Hz in 100 s time
Fig. 8 Phase images obtained from time domain analysis (CFRP
span)) and Barker) thermal excitation onto the test specimens
specimen) for a duration of 100 s with two halogen lamps each of 1 KW
as shown in Fig. 2. For each test, the corresponding thermal
Time domain phase analysis stimulus is generated from signal generator that drives the
halogen lamps via source control unit. The resultant thermal
In this approach, data processing has been carried out to history over the specimen is captured in real time with an
achieve pulse compression in order to reconstruct the phase infrared camera (InSb detector having wavelength range 3–
images of the captured temporal image sequence by using 5 μm with 320×256 spatial resolution focal plane array) dur-
Hilbert transform (HT) defined as following [21, 27–29]: ing the active heating at a frame rate of 25 frames/s for GFRP
Z specimen and 28 frames/s for CFRP specimen. The temporal
1 ∞ T ð xr ; τ Þ temperature data is extracted from the recorded thermograms
H ðt Þ ¼ dτ ð14Þ
π −∞ t −τ and the mean rise in temperature is removed using a proper
polynomial fit. Further, post processing on the captured data is
The phase of the thermal wave signal is then calculated as: carried out in two separate sets. In the first set, the temporal
0 n o 1 data at each pixel location is extracted and Fourier transform is
IFFT H ðωÞ* T ðxi ; ωÞ
θ ¼ tan−1 @ n oA ð15Þ computed by using Fast Fourier Transform algorithm to re-
*
IFFT T ðxr ; ωÞ T ðxi ; ωÞ trieve phase information as illustrated in Fig. 3. In the second
set, time domain (Hilbert transform) based phase approach is
where T(xr,ω) and T(xi,ω) are the Fourier transforms of the applied to construct time domain phasegrams as shown in
sound (considered at a chosen non-defective region) reference Fig. 4.
signal and thermal signal at a given location and ‘*’ refers to The phasegrams obtained from the temporal temperature
complex conjugate. distribution of FMTWI, DFMTWI and BCTWI techniques
using frequency domain approach implemented on GFRP
specimen are as shown in Fig. 5(a)–(c) respectively.
Whereas the time domain phase images of FMTWI, DFMT
Results and Discussions WI and BCTWI techniques obtained using Hilbert transform
based approach applied on the same specimen are shown in
The aforementioned techniques are carried out on two speci- Fig. 6(a)–(c) respectively. Computed frequency domain phase
mens: GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer) and CFRP image corresponds to a frequency of 0.02 Hz and time domain
(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer). The GFRP specimen phase image corresponds to a time instant of 3.4 s.
contains flat bottom hole defects of diameters 4 and 6 mm Figure 7(a)–(c) illustrate the phasegrams obtained from the
located at various depths ranging from 0.25 to 1.75 mm in temporal temperature distribution of FMTWI, DFMTWI and

(a) FMTWI (b) DFMTWI (c) BCTWI

Fig. 9 SNR of two chosen defects (GFRP specimen)

(a) FMTWI (b) DFMTWI
Fig. 10 SNR of two chosen defects (CFRP specimen)
BCTWI techniques using frequency domain approach imple-
mented on CFRP specimen. Whereas the time domain phase
images of FMTWI, DFMTWI and BCTWI techniques obtain-
ed using Hilbert transform based approach are shown in
Fig. 8(a)–(c) respectively. Computed frequency domain phase
image corresponds to a frequency of 0.02 Hz and time domain
phase image corresponds to a time instant of 13.9 s. It is clear
from the obtained results that detection capability of time do-
main phase image gives better contrast as it uses the advan-
tages of concentrated energy obtained from the correlation
based matched filtering and analyzes the phase information
in time domain without redistributing the energy to the indi-
vidual frequency components.
The detection capabilities of each and individual scheme
for the different defects hidden inside the test specimens have
been quantified using Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) as a pa-
rameter value. The SNR value is calculated as:
SN RðdBÞ
Mean of the defective area−Mean of the nondefective area
¼ 20log
Standrad deviation of the nondefective area
ð16Þ
Figure 9(a)–(c) show the SNR of two defects Ba^ and Bb^
located at 1.75 mm deep from the front surface of GFRP
specimen with 4 and 6 mm diameters respectively. The SNR
of two defects Ba^ and Bb^ located at 1.8 mm deep from the
front surface of CFRP specimen with 15 and 16 mm diameters
are illustrated in Fig. 10(a)–(c) respectively. The results show
that chosen defects Ba^ and Bb^ exhibit higher SNR in the
time domain phase images compared to the obtained
phasegrams from the frequency domain phase analysis in all
the presented schemes implemented on both specimens.
Conclusions
In this paper, various pulse compression supportive non-
stationary thermal wave imaging techniques have been imple-
mented to characterize GFRP and CFRP specimens having
artificial flat-bottom holes. The time and frequency domain
phase based schemes are used to detect the hidden subsurface
defects. The results show that the time domain phase provides
Exp Mech
(c) BCTWI
better detection performance than that of the conventional
frequency domain approach. It may be due to its capability
to retain the advantage of energy concentration, which leads to
enhanced depth scanning with improved resolution and sensi-
tivity for defect detection. The SNR value for the two selected
defects obtained from the time domain phase image for a
chosen time interval is higher than that of the frequency do-
main phase image at a chosen frequency component. This is
clear from the fact that conventional frequency domain meth-
od fails to provide better detection capabilities as compared to
the proposed time domain approach due to its inherent nature
of analysis, by splitting the total imposed energy to various
involved frequency components.
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