TY - JOUR A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Thermographic detection of internal defects using 2D photothermal super resolution reconstruction with sequential laser heating N2 - Thermographic photothermal super resolution reconstruction enables the resolution of internal defects/inhomogeneities below the classical limit, which is governed by the diffusion properties of thermal wave propagation. Based on a combination of the application of special sampling strategies and a subsequent numerical optimization step in post-processing, thermographic super resolution has already proven to be superior to standard thermographic methods in the detection of one-dimensional defect/inhomogeneity structures. In our work, we report an extension of the capabilities of the method for efficient detection and resolution of defect cross sections with fully two-dimensional structured laser-based heating. The reconstruction is carried out using one of two different algorithms that are proposed within this work. Both algorithms utilize the combination of several coherent measurements using convex optimization and exploit the sparse nature of defects/inhomogeneities as is typical for most nondestructive testing scenarios. Finally, the performance of each algorithm is rated on reconstruction quality and algorithmic complexity. The presented experimental approach is based on repeated spatially structured heating by a high power laser. As a result, a two-dimensional sparse defect/inhomogeneity map can be obtained. In addition, the obtained results are compared with those of conventional thermographic inspection methods that make use of homogeneous illumination. Due to the sparse nature of the reconstructed defect/inhomogeneity map, this comparison is performed qualitatively. KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Inspection KW - Internal defects PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548351 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0088102 SN - 1089-7550 VL - 131 IS - 18 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-54835 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Nondestructive thermographic detection of internal defects using pixel-pattern based laser excitation and photothermal super resolution reconstruction N2 - In this work, we present a novel approach to photothermal super resolution based thermographic resolution of internal defects using two-dimensional pixel pattern-based active photothermal laser heating in conjunction with subsequent numerical reconstruction to achieve a high-resolution reconstruction of internal defect structures. With the proposed adoption of pixelated patterns generated using laser coupled high-power DLP projector technology the complexity for achieving true two-dimensional super resolution can be dramatically reduced taking a crucial step forward towards widespread practical viability. Furthermore, based on the latest developments in high-power DLP projectors, we present their first application for structured pulsed thermographic inspection of macroscopic metal samples. In addition, a forward solution to the underlying inverse problem is proposed along with an appropriate heuristic to find the regularization parameters necessary for the numerical inversion in a laboratory setting. This allows the generation of synthetic measurement data, opening the door for the application of machine learning based methods for future improvements towards full automation of the method. Finally, the proposed method is experimentally validated and shown to outperform several established conventional thermographic testing techniques while conservatively improving the required measurement times by a factor of 8 compared to currently available photothermal super resolution techniques. KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Inspection KW - Internal defects KW - DMD KW - DLP PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570551 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30494-2 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Nature Research AN - OPUS4-57055 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias ED - Mendioroz, A. ED - Avdelidis, N. P. T1 - Thermographic testing using 2D pseudo-random illumination and photothermal super resolution reconstruction N2 - Due to the diffusive nature of heat propagation in solids, the detection and resolution of internal defects with active thermography based non-destructive testing is commonly limited to a defect-depth-to-defect-size ratio greater than or equal to one. In the more recent past, we have already demonstrated that this limitation can be overcome by using a spatially modulated illumination source and photothermal super resolution-based reconstruction. Furthermore, by relying on compressed sensing and computational imaging methods we were able to significantly reduce the experimental complexity to make the method viable for investigating larger regions of interest. In this work we share our progress on improving the defect/inhomogeneity characterization using fully 2D spatially structured illumination patterns instead of scanning with a single laser spot. The experimental approach is based on the repeated blind pseudo-random illumination using modern projector technology and a high-power laser. In the subsequent post-processing, several measurements are then combined by taking advantage of the joint sparsity of the defects within the sample applying 2D-photothermal super resolution reconstruction. Here, enhanced nonlinear convex optimization techniques are utilized for solving the underlying ill-determined inverse problem for typical simple defect geometries. As a result, a higher resolution defect/inhomogeneity map can be obtained at a fraction of the measurement time previously needed. T2 - Thermosense: Thermal Infrared Applications XLIV CY - Orlando, Florida, USA DA - 05.04.2022 KW - Thermography KW - Super resolution KW - NDT KW - Material testing KW - Internal defects KW - DMD KW - DLP PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2618562 SN - 0277-786X VL - 12109 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - SPIE AN - OPUS4-54909 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Rupprecht, C. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Influence of the number of measurements on detecting internal defects using photothermal super resolution reconstruction with random pixel patterns N2 - In this work, the limits of using spatially structured heating combined with subsequent photothermal super resolution reconstruction for the thermographic detection and resolution of internal defects are investigated. The approach is based on the application of modern high-power laser projector technology, which is used to repeatedly project varying spatially structured 2D pixel patterns to photothermally heat the object under test. After processing the generated thermographic data using nonlinear convex optimisation in conjunction with exploiting the joint-sparse nature of the defect signals within the individual measurements, a high-resolution 2D-sparse defect/inhomogeneity map is obtained. The main focus of the investigation is set on the influence of the number of individual measurements on the achievable reconstruction quality. Using numerical simulations based on an analytical representation of the forward solution to the underlying inverse problem, the convergence rate over performed measurements of the achievable reconstruction quality is determined. Finally, all findings are experimentally validated by reconstructing a set of internal defects in an additively manufactured sample. In this work, it is shown that for a variety of different defect separation distances, the projection of 50 different pixel patterns allows for a good trade-off between experimental complexity and reconstruction quality. KW - Super resolution KW - Digital micromirror device KW - Digital light processing KW - Internal defects PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/17686733.2023.2223392 SN - 2116-7176 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-57778 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Pech May, Nelson Wilbur A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Robot-assisted infrared thermography for surface breaking crack detection on complex shaped components N2 - Infrared thermography using a focused (spot or line) beam has proved to be effective for detection of surface breaking cracks on planar samples. In this work, we use the same principle, but applied to complex shaped components, like a rail section, a gear, and a gas turbine blade. We use a six-axis robot arm to move the sample in front of our thermographic setup. Several scanning paths and thermographic parameters are explored: scanning speed, density of points in each scanning slice, laser power and camera frame-rate. Additionally, we explore semi-automatic evaluation algorithms for crack detection, as well as 2D-to-3D registration of the found indications. T2 - SPIE Future Sensing Technologies, 2023 CY - Yokohama, Japan DA - 18.04.2023 KW - Complex shaped component testing KW - Flying line thermography KW - Robot-assisted thermography KW - Crack detection KW - Robot path planning KW - 2D/3D thermographic registration PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2666757 VL - 12327 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - SPIE Future Sensing Technologies AN - OPUS4-59867 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Berer, T. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias A1 - Thiel, Erik A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Gruber, J. A1 - Mayr, G. A1 - Hendorfer, G. T1 - Blind structured illumination as excitation for super-resolution photothermal radiometry N2 - Photothermal radiometry with an infrared camera allows the contactless temperature measurement of multiple surface pixels simultaneously. A short light pulse heats the sample. The heat propagates through the sample by diffusion and the corresponding temperature evolution is measured at the sample’s surface by an infrared camera. The main drawback in radiometric imaging is the loss of the spatial resolution with increasing depth due to heat diffusion, which results in blurred images for deeper lying structures. We circumvent this information loss due to the diffusion process by using blind structured illumination, combined with a non-linear joint sparsity reconstruction algorithm. The structured illumination is realized by parallel laser lines from a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array controlled by a random binary pattern generator. By using 150 different patterns of structured illumination and our iterative joint sparsity algorithm, it was possible to resolve 1 mm thick lines at a distance down to 0.5 mm, which results in a resolution enhancement of approximately a factor of four compared to the resolution of 5.9 mm for homogenous illuminated thermographic reconstruction. KW - Super-resolution imaging KW - Thermography KW - Blind structured illumination KW - VCSEL array PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/17686733.2019.1655247 SN - 1768-6733 VL - 17 IS - 4 SP - 268 EP - 278 PB - Taylor & Francis Group CY - Milton, UK AN - OPUS4-49122 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Krankenhagen, Rainer A1 - Ziegler, Mathias A1 - Maierhofer, Christiane ED - Maldague, X. T1 - Systematic errors in the evaluation of uncorrected data from thermographic lock-in measurements N2 - Lock-in thermography (LT) is based on the correct evaluation of phase differences between the temperature oscillations at different surface regions of the object under test during periodic heating. Since the usual heating procedures contain a DC component, the actual heating pattern achieved is not harmonic. This causes systematic deviations when phase differences are determined by means of harmonic analysis, e.g. with FFT analysis. The resulting errors depend clearly on the ratio between DC and AC amplitude, which is demonstrated at simulated and experimentally recorded temperature transients. Further experimental LT data obtained by different oscillating energy inputs showed a variety of possible shapes of transients with different DC components. T2 - 14th QIRT Conference CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 26.06.2018 KW - NDT KW - Lock-in Thermography KW - FFT PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-453768 SP - 539 EP - 547 PB - QIRT Council AN - OPUS4-45376 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Thummerer, G. A1 - Breitwieser, S. A1 - Mayr, G. A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Jung, P. A1 - Caire, G. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Multi-dimensional reconstruction of internal defects in additively manufactured steel using photothermal super resolution combined with virtual wave based image processing N2 - We combine three different approaches to greatly enhance the defect reconstruction ability of active thermographic testing. As experimental approach, laser-based structured illumination is performed in a step-wise manner. As an intermediate signal processing step, the virtual wave concept is used in order to effectively convert the notoriously difficult to solve diffusion-based inverse problem into a somewhat milder wavebased inverse problem. As a final step, a compressed-sensing based optimization procedure is applied which efficiently solves the inverse problem by making advantage of the joint sparsity of multiple blind measurements. To evaluate our proposed processing technique, we investigate an additively manufactured stainless steel sample with eight internal defects. The concerted super resolution approach is compared to conventional thermographic reconstruction techniques and shows an at least four times better spatial resolution. KW - Active thermography KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Stainless steel KW - ADMM KW - Block regularization KW - Internal defects KW - Joint sparsity KW - Laser excitation KW - Multi-dimensional reconstruction KW - Photothermal super resolution KW - Virtual waves PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-525330 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/tii.2021.3054411 SN - 1551-3203 SN - 1941-0050 VL - 17 IS - 11 SP - 7368 EP - 7378 PB - IEEE CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-52533 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ahmadi, Samim A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Burgholzer, P. A1 - Jung, P. A1 - Caire, G. A1 - Ziegler, Mathias T1 - Laser excited super resolution thermal imaging for nondestructive inspection of internal defects N2 - A photothermal super resolution technique is proposed for an improved inspection of internal defects. To evaluate the potential of the laser-based thermographic technique, an additively manufactured stainless steel specimen with closely spaced internal cavities is used. Four different experimental configurations in transmission, reflection, stepwise and continuous scanning are investigated. The applied image post-processing method is based on compressed sensing and makes use of the block sparsity from multiple measurement events. This concerted approach of experimental measurement strategy and numerical optimization enables the resolution of internal defects and outperforms conventional thermographic inspection techniques. KW - Super Resolution KW - Laser Thermography KW - Non Destructive Testing KW - Comressed Sensing KW - Inverse Problem KW - Thermography PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-519016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77979-y VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 22357 PB - Springer Nature AN - OPUS4-51901 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Myrach, Philipp A1 - Ziegler, Mathias A1 - Maierhofer, Christiane A1 - Kreutzbruck, Marc ED - Chimenti, D.E. ED - Bond, L.J. ED - Thompson, D.O. T1 - Influence of the acquisition parameters on the performance of laser-thermography for crack detection in metallic components N2 - We present a systematic study on the performance of laser-thermography for the detection of surface cracks in metallic components. Scanning a metallic surface with laser causes local heating that is mapped simultaneously by an IR-camera and allows identifying cracks with sub-µm openings. The detectability, however, depends on a number of acquisition parameters (e.g. scanning speed, laser power, IR-camera resolution) that typically relate on each other. Most importantly, the detection-sensitivity of surface breaking cracks is given by a particular combination for the acquisition parameter values. As a result, this sensitivity is adaptable within wide ranges allowing the detection of cracks with openings ranging from 200 to 0.1 µm at testing speeds of 100 to 0.05 cm²/s. By examining artificial as well as fatigue cracks, we demonstrate that the method can be even applied to shiny surfaces with no need of pretreatments, which makes it an entirely contactless, remote and automatable NDT technique. A comparison with magnetic particle testing shows that laser-thermography has the potential to become a strong competitor to conventional surface inspection methods in the future. T2 - 40th Annual review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation CY - Baltimore, Maryland, USA DA - 21.07.2013 KW - Thermography KW - Laser-thermography KW - Crack detection PY - 2014 SN - 978-0-7354-1212-5 SN - 978-0-7354-1211-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4865018 SN - 0094-243X N1 - Serientitel: AIP conference proceedings – Series title: AIP conference proceedings VL - 1581 SP - 1624 EP - 1630 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-31260 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -