With this term are usually described some different techniques, having in common damage measurement from temperature variations.
To give some examples, here is the thermographic image of an intact honeycomb panel (image 1 )
Image 1
while here is the image of an impacted honeycomb panel (image 2)
Image 2
These images were obtained during cooling down of the panels, previously heated up to about 50 C.
You can see the irregular thermal profile of the impacted plate, compared to that much more regular which can be observed on the intact one.
Here we change a little bit, since this image represents the SPATE 4000 thermal scanning of a slightly damaged polyester-glass fibre specimen (see the little yellow spot in the figure).
Image 3
Here below a specimen impacted at an energy of 10 Joules was scanned with Deltatherm: here too, the damage is clearly discernible
Image 4
Finally, a thermography image of specimens moulded at different tool temperature and impacted at different impact energy (35-40-45 Joules)
