Active Thermography

For Non-destructive Testing Of Materials

The objective of conventional thermography is the measurement of surface temperatures. The thermography system detects the, of a body emitted, temperature dependent infrared heat radiation. Using the so-called passive thermography, one can get contactless information about the surface.

Nowadays, with high-resolution thermography systems, it is possible to detect temperature differences of 10 mK.

Active thermal measurement methods are based on the evaluation of a previously excited heat flow in the tested component and its disturbance by hidden defects. The heat flow is generated with a heat pulse or through sinusoidal modulation. The testing is carried out with a thermography camera followed by a mathematical analysis of the measured sequence to extract the for a reliable defect detection necessary information.

The thermography methods listed on the left hand side are well established in nondestructive testing of materials.