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Impact Of Pulse Length On The Accuracy Of Defect Depth Measurements In Pulse Thermography, James Pierce, Nathan B. Crane

Faculty Publications

Pulse thermography is a nondestructive testing method in which an energy pulse is applied to a surface while the surface temperature evolution is measured to detect sub surface defects and estimate their depth. This nondestructive test method was developed on the assumption of instantaneous surface heating, but recent work has shown that relatively long pulses can be used to accurately determine defect depth in polymers. This paper examines the impact of varying input pulse length on the accuracy of defect depth quantification as a function of the material properties. Simulations using both thermoplastics and metals show that measurement error is …