Detection of Impact Damages in CFRP Composites Using Ultrasonic Burst Phase Thermography

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have been used extensively because of their excellent performance, but they are susceptible to the impact damages, such as the impact of birds, runway stones and tools off can cause the failure of CFRP composites. Therefore, nondestructive testing of CFRP composites is necessary to promote the failure control and prevention. Ultrasonic burst phase thermography (UBP) developed a few years ago is a defect-selective and fast imaging tool for damage detection. This paper describes the principle of UBP, gives some UBP testing results of impact damages in five CFRP laminated boards. The shape and position of the damages are shown in the phase images visualized and the relationship between the damage areas and impact energy is discussed. The flash pulse thermography (PT) results and ultrasonic C-scan results are also shown as comparison. It is concluded that all of the three NDT methods have their own characteristics and the comparison verifies the feasibility of CFRP impact damage detection using ultrasonic burst phase thermography.