Analytical Study of Frequency Modulated Thermography for Defect Estimation in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer

Frequency modulated thermography (FMT) is an efficient thermographic technique for quantitative analysis of defects in any material. The paper presents analytical solution of heat transfer in a finite thickness sample with flat bottom hole defects located at different lateral dimensions. The carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) sample is subjected to frequency modulated thermal excitation and temperature variations are evaluated for defect detection analysis. The computed analytical solutions for different defect depths have been shown to agree with corresponding simulation results for CFRP sample. The present work highlights defect detection capability of FMT technique using matched filter approach.