Tham, Z. W., Sampath, S., Chen, Y. F., Mutiargo, B., & Zhang, L. (2024). Non-contact defect imaging of carbon fiber composites using laser excited acoustic shearography. Composites Science and Technology, 257, 110796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2024.110796
Abstract:
The performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites is significantly affected by the presence of subsurface defects, which originate from manufacturing processes or during operations. Although many non-destructive testing (NDT) methods have been employed to inspect CFRP materials and structures, the existing techniques are often time-consuming and sometimes require contact measurement. This paper presents a non-contact and rapid inspection method utilizing laser-excited acoustic shearography to detect subsurface defects in CFRP composites. In this method, a pulsed nanosecond laser is used to generate ultrasonic waves through thermoacoustic effect, and a shearography sensor is used to image the full-field wave-defect interactions. It is found that the proposed method can efficiently image various subsurface defect sizes in a non-contact way. The identified defects were validated through comparison with X-ray computed tomography (XCT).
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation - Central Gap Fund
Grant Reference no. : NRF2020NRF-CG001-035
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Singapore Aerospace Programme
Grant Reference no. : A1715a00078