Delamination Detection in Polymeric Ablative Materials Using Pulse-Compression Thermography and Air-Coupled Ultrasound
by
Stefano Laureti 1,*
, Muhammad Khalid Rizwan 1, Hamed Malekmohammadi 1, Pietro Burrascano 1, Maurizio Natali 2, Luigi Torre 2, Marco Rallini 2, Ivan Puri 2, David Hutchins 3 and Marco Ricci 4
Stefano Laureti 1,*, Muhammad Khalid Rizwan 1, Hamed Malekmohammadi 1, Pietro Burrascano 1, Maurizio Natali 2, Luigi Torre 2, Marco Rallini 2, Ivan Puri 2, David Hutchins 3 and Marco Ricci 4
1
Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Polo Scientifico Didattico di Terni, Strada di Pentima 4, 05100 Terni, Italy
2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Polo Scientifico Didattico di Terni, Strada di Pentima 4, 05100 Terni, Italy
3
School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Library Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
4
Department of Informatics, Modeling, Electronics and System Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2019, 19(9), 2198; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19092198
Received: 24 April 2019 / Revised: 8 May 2019 / Accepted: 9 May 2019 / Published: 13 May 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Infrared Thermography and Additional Non-Destructive Testing for Building, Structure and Material Inspections)
Ablative materials are used extensively in the aerospace industry for protection against high thermal stresses and temperatures, an example being glass/silicone composites. The extreme conditions faced and the cost-risk related to the production/operating stage of such high-tech materials indicate the importance of detecting any anomaly or defect arising from the manufacturing process. In this paper, two different non-destructive testing techniques, namely active thermography and ultrasonic testing, have been used to detect a delamination in a glass/silicone composite. It is shown that a frequency modulated chirp signal and pulse-compression can successfully be used in active thermography for detecting such a delamination. Moreover, the same type of input signal and post-processing can be used to generate an image using air-coupled ultrasound, and an interesting comparison between the two can be made to further characterise the defect.
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Keywords:
polymeric ablative materials; thermal protection system; thermography; ultrasonic testing; pulse-compression
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MDPI and ACS Style
Laureti, S.; Khalid Rizwan, M.; Malekmohammadi, H.; Burrascano, P.; Natali, M.; Torre, L.; Rallini, M.; Puri, I.; Hutchins, D.; Ricci, M. Delamination Detection in Polymeric Ablative Materials Using Pulse-Compression Thermography and Air-Coupled Ultrasound. Sensors 2019, 19, 2198.
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