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We report on recent developments in the detection of surface breaking cracks using
flying laser spot thermography. Application of an infrared camera for mapping the
thermal radiation after excitation with a diode laser equipped with an optical scanner
allows us to examine a surface containing cracks in an entirely non-destructive,
contactless and fast way, without even moving the camera. We developed an efficient
and robust algorithm that can be applied directly to the recorded thermal sequences,
and that derives a single image containing all crack signatures. For this crack detection
technique, no specific synchronisation between laser and camera is required. Hence,
our approach is suitable for an upgrade of existing thermographic systems. The
feasibility of the proposed procedure is proven by testing an artificial test sample and a
piece of rail that comprises roll contact fatigue cracks and by comparing the results
with magnetic particle testing.
Im Projekt wurden systematische Untersuchungen zur thermografischen Erkennung von Oberflächenrissen mit Rissbreiten von ca. 0,1 bis 200 µm anhand von standardisierten bzw. selbst erstellten metallischen Referenzprobekörpern durchgeführt. Zur lokalen Anregung wurde ein Hochleistungs-Diodenlasersystem verwendet. Alle für die erfolgreiche Prüfung wesentlichen Parameter des Prüfsystems wurden systematisch untersucht und bewertet. Hieraus wurden Vorschläge, Empfehlungen und Faustformeln für die Wahl der Prüfparameter, Referenzprüfkörper, geeignete Gerätekomponenten und Auswertungsalgorithmen sowie Hinweise zur Prüfungsdurchführung abgeleitet. Zur Absicherung der Aussagen und zum Anschluss des neuen Prüfverfahrens an den Stand der Technik wurden Referenzprüfungen und -messungen mit etablierten Verfahren durchgeführt. Zudem wurde die Grenze der Nachweisempfindlichkeit des Verfahrens demonstriert.
In dieser Arbeit wird ein kameragestütztes Verfahren zur Flying-
Spot-Thermografie vorgestellt. Die Anregung wird über einen Diodenlaser mit einem optischen Scanner realisiert. Bei der Auswertung kommt ein effizienter und robuster Algorithmus zum Einsatz, der direkt auf die mit der Kamera aufgenommene Thermografiesequenz angewendet werden kann, ohne auf eine
Synchronisation zwischen Kamera und Lasersystem angewiesen zu sein. Daher eignet sich diese Herangehensweise besonders zur Nachrüstung bestehender Thermografiesysteme.
Die prinzipielle Eignung dieser Methode wird anhand einer Messung an einem Schienenstück mit Rollkontaktermüdungsrissen gezeigt. Als Referenzverfahren werden die Magnetpulverprüfung und eine auf GMR (Giant Magnetoresistance)- Sensoren basierende Streufeldmessung herangezogen. Mit dem thermografischen Verfahren konnten sämtliche enthaltenen Fehler erkannt werden. Dabei wurden Risse im mm-Abstand getrennt nachgewiesen, was etwa der geometrischen Auflösung der eingesetzten Kamera entspricht.
Die aktive Thermografie wird in der Industrie zunehmend in verschiedenen Bereichen zur Qualitätssicherung, Zustandsdiagnose und Zustandsüberwachung eingesetzt. Bestehende Normen zur Thermografie beschreiben die Grundlagen, Geräte und Begriffe. In diesem Beitrag wird über ein Projekt berichtet, dessen Ziel die Erarbeitung einer Prüfnorm zur Blitzthermografie ist. Diese sollte neben der Auswahl geeigneter Gerätekomponenten, der Auswertungsverfahren und der Vorgehensweise bei der Prüfung auch die Beschreibung geeigneter Referenzprobekörper enthalten, die eine Bewertung der Messapparatur und eine Qualitätssicherung der Prüfung ermöglichen.
In diesem Beitrag werden die Möglichkeiten der Ortung von Fehlstellen in Cu Lötverbindungen unterhalb verschiedener Cu Blechdicken mit aktiver Thermografie demonstriert. Dabei wurden die Anregung mit Blitzlicht und die periodische Anregung mit der Lock-In Technik miteinander verglichen. Die Vor- und Nachteile der Anwendung unterschiedlicher IR-Kamerasysteme, einer gekühlten InSb-Quantendetektor IR-Kamera und einer Mikrobolometer IR-Kamera, werden dargestellt. Als objektives Kriterium wurde das SNR für unterschiedliche Fehlstellengrößen herangezogen.
Impulse and lock-in thermography have been applied to detect delaminations of prototype solder joints, similar to those to be produced between Cu shunts and Cu busbar stabilisers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Two infrared cameras with different detector materials and with different spectral ranges and two excitation techniques have been tested and compared for their ability to detect delaminations behind 2 and 3 mm thick Cu shunts. We have analyzed the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for each detected defect and are able to detect defects down to a nominal edge length of 4 mm behind 2 mm thick Cu shunts by using fast impulse thermography and a camera with a microbolometer array. For the 3 mm thick Cu shunt, on the other hand, the nominal 4 mm defect is only visible in the lock-in thermography phase images and the highest SNR has been achieved with a cooled InSb-based camera. In addition, numerical simulations show the influence of the minimum detectable defect size on the shunt thickness and that the developed on-site testing technique is sufficient to find all defects that are detectable theoretically.
Catastrophic optical damage (COD) is analyzed during single current pulse excitation of 975 nm emitting diode lasers. Power transients and thermal images are monitored during each pulse. The COD process is unambiguously related to the occurrence of a thermal flash of Plancks radiation. We observe COD to ignite multiple times in subsequent pulses. Thermography allows for tracing a spatial motion of the COD site on the front facet of the devices. The time constant of power decay after the onset of COD has values from 400 to 2000 ns, i.e., an order of magnitude longer than observed for shorter-wavelength devices.
Single-pulse tests of the catastrophic optical damage (COD) are performed for three batches of diode lasers with different gain-regions. The tests involve in situ inspection of front, rear, and side of the devices by a thermocamera. Devices with an Al-containing gain-region show COD at the front facet, as expected for strong facet heating via surface recombination and reabsorption of laser light. In contrast, Al-free devices with low surface recombination rates tend to fail at the rear facet, pointing to a different heating scenario. The high carrier density at the rear facet favors heating and COD via Auger recombination processes.
Double-side cooled high-power diode laser bars packaged by different techniques on different types of passive heat sinks are analyzed in terms of packaging-induced strain. Reference data from standard devices being single-side cooled only and packaged by conventional soft and hard soldering are also presented. Thermal profiling across the devices complements the results. The most suitable packaging architecture and technique for double-side cooled bars is identified. Measurements of the laser emission near field and electroluminescence pattern provide direct reference to the functionality of the devices. Furthermore, a type of cross calibration of the methods used for strain analysis is made, since all techniques are applied to the same set of bars. This involves micro photoluminescence, micro Raman, and degree-of-polarization electroluminescence spectroscopy.
Thermografische ZfP-Verfahren erlauben die Erkennung einer Vielzahl von Defekten in unterschiedlichsten Werkstoffen. Neue Ansätze unter Verwendung von Lasern ermöglichen darüber hinaus die Prüfung auf Oberflächenrisse. Wir stellen die neuesten Entwicklungen dieser vielversprechenden Technik vor und zeigen warum deren Einsatz potentiell die Standardprüfverfahren Magnetpulver- bzw. Eindringprüfung für eine Reihe von Prüfproblemen beerben könnte. Hierzu stellen wir die Prüfergebnisse zu unterschiedlichen metallischen Werkstoffen, Rissgrößen und -typen in Abhängigkeit der Prüfparameter vor. Die aktuelle Grenze der Nachweisempfindlichkeit für die mittels klassischer Thermografie schwer prüfbaren hochreflektierenden Metalloberflächen liegt mit Rissbreiten und -tiefen von weni-gen Mikrometern im Bereich der fluoreszierenden Magnetpulver- und Eindringprüfung. Dabei sind weder Verbrauchsmittel noch eine Oberflächenpräparation notwendig und eine Prüfung kann berührungslos und automatisiert über Entfernungen im Meter-Bereich erfolgen.
Für die optische Erwärmung von Prüfteiloberflächen sind Blitz- und Halogenlampen Stand der Technik. Der Vorteil dieser Wärmequellen liegt in ihren relativ geringen Anschaffungskosten bei gleichzeitig hohen Leistungsdichten am Prüfobjekt. Nachteilig ist bei den Halogenlampen die Limitierung der möglichen Modulationsffequenz auf ca. 1 Hz für die Anwendung dieser Quelle in der Lockin-Thermografie. Blitzlampen bieten für gewöhnlich nur eine feste Blitzdauer bei einer geringen Taktrate. Beide Anregungsquellen müssen in Reflexionsanordnung mit Filtern betrieben werden um die entstehende thermische Eigenstrahlung als Störquelle zu eliminieren. Wir stellen Untersuchungen an Hochleistungs-LEDs für den Einsatz in der aktiven Thermografie vor. Diese Lichtquellen werden durch die rasante Entwicklung der möglichen Leistungsdichten nun auch für die thermografische ZfP interessant. Sie zeigen ähnlich dem Laser eine schmale und auf den Werkstoff abstimmbare spektrale Verteilung der Strahlungsleistung bei moderaten Kosten. Die zugrunde liegende Elektrolumineszenz generiert kaum Wärmestrahlung und ermöglicht dadurch die Prüfung während des Erwärmungsvorganges ohne größeren Aufwand. Modulationsfrequenzen über 100 Hz mit thermischen Eindringtiefen < 1 mm sind möglich. Dadurch qualifizieren sich die LEDs zur Anwendung in der Lockin-Thermografie von Metallen und zur oberflächennahen Prüfung von Schichtsystemen. Durch die fast verzögerungsffeie Reaktion der LED auf das steuernde Signal sind nahezu beliebige zeitliche Anregungsformen möglich. Mit solch flexiblen Anregungsformen ließen sich bereits bei den photothermischen Verfahren erfolgreich höhere Tiefenreichweiten und -auflösungen gegenüber den klassischen Methoden der monofrequenten Lockin - und energiereichen Kurzimpuls-Anregung erzielen. Untersuchungen dieser Möglichkeiten im praktischen Einsatz der HochleistungsLEDs werden vorgestellt und mit herkömmlichen Lichtquellen verglichen.
Die Thermografie ist trotz ihrer ausgereiften wissenschaftlichen und technologischen Grundlagen ein noch relativ junges Mitglied in der Familie der zerstörungsfreien Prüfverfahren. Sie erschließt sich aufgrund einer Reihe von Vorzügen eine wachsende Anwenderschaft. Für eine weitere Verbreitung insbesondere im industriellen Kontext spielen Normen, Standards und Richtlinien eine wichtige Rolle. In diesem Beitrag wird der aktuelle Stand der Normierung vorgestellt. Wir werden zeigen, welche Grundlagennormen und Anwendungsnormen es für die Thermografie in Deutschland und international gibt und wir wagen einen Blick in die Zukunft. Darüber hinaus lebt auch die Normierungsarbeit von der Beteiligung durch interessierte Kreise. Dies können industrielle und akademische Anwender*innen, Hersteller*innen von Geräten, Forschungseinrichtungen oder Dienstleistungsunternehmen sein. Sie können gern Ihre Bedarfe bezüglich Normierungsprojekten mitbringen und/oder direkt an die Autoren senden.
This article presents deep unfolding neural networks to handle inverse problems in photothermal radiometry enabling super-resolution (SR) imaging. The photothermal SR approach is a well-known technique to overcome the spatial resolution limitation in photothermal imaging by extracting high-frequency spatial components based on the deconvolution with the thermal point spread function (PSF). However, stable deconvolution can only be achieved by using the sparse structure of defect patterns, which often requires tedious, handcrafted tuning of hyperparameters and results in computationally intensive algorithms. On this account, this article proposes Photothermal-SR-Net, which performs deconvolution by deep unfolding considering the underlying physics. Since defects appear sparsely in materials, our approach includes trained block-sparsity thresholding in each convolutional layer. This enables to super-resolve 2-D thermal images for nondestructive testing (NDT) with a substantially improved convergence rate compared to classic approaches. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated on various deep unfolding and thresholding approaches. Furthermore, we explored how to increase the reconstruction quality and the computational performance. Thereby, it was found that the computing time for creating high-resolution images could be significantly reduced without decreasing the reconstruction quality by using pixel binning as a preprocessing step.
In this work we introduce an algorithm based on the well-known Canny approach for effectual crack detection in thermographic films obtained using flying spot thermography (FST) or flying line thermography (FLT). The proposed algorithm performs faster than another algorithm, for crack detection, based on the application of two Sobel filters (one in x and another one in y directions). For FLT it is shown that processing 10-25 % of the thermograms of a thermographic film required to scan a whole sample is enough to obtain good results. In contrast, using the Sobel filter approach requires the processing of twice the thermographic film length. Experimental measurements are performed on a metallic component of complex shape which contains real defects, that is, surface breaking cracks due to industrial use. The specimen is tested using flying line thermography. Three different scanning speeds are tested: 10, 30 and 60 mms-1 with laser powers of 50, 60 and 120 W respectively. The sample and an infrared camera are aligned and fixed on a motorized linear stage. The diode laser LDM500 (500 W max power) is fixed on an optical bench separately from the linear stage. The results obtained
with the proposed algorithm are additionally compared with a previously established algorithm for flying spot thermography based on the Sobel filter. It is shown that the proposed algorithm based on the Canny approach, can be used in automated systems for thermographic non-destructive testing.
Detection of surface breaking cracks using flying line laser thermography: A Canny-based algorithm
(2021)
In this work, we introduce a new algorithm for effectual crack detection using flying line laser thermography, based on the well-known Canny approach. The algorithm transforms the input thermographic sequence into an edge map. Experimental measurements are performed on a metallic component that contains surface breaking cracks due to industrial use. The specimen is tested using flying line thermography at different scanning speeds and laser input powers. Results obtained with the proposed algorithm are additionally compared with a previously established algorithm for flying spot thermography. The proposed Canny-based algorithm can be used in automated systems for thermographic non-destructive testing.
In vielen Umgebungen, besonders bei hohen Temperaturen, korrosiven Umgebungen oder auf bewegten oder schlecht zugänglichen Flächen, kann die Temperatur nicht oder nur mit nicht akzeptablem Aufwand mit Berührungsthermometern gemessen werden. Diese Umgebungsbedingungen sind unter anderem in der chemischen Industrie, der Lebensmittel-, Metall-, Glas-, Kunststoff- und Papierherstellung sowie bei der Lacktrocknung anzutreffen. In diesen Bereichen kommen Strahlungsthermometer zum Einsatz. Der VDI-Statusreport zeigt typische Anwendungsfelder von nicht radiometrisch kalibrierten Wärmebildkameras und von radiometrisch kalibrierten Thermografiekameras. Um verlässlich mit spezifizierten Messunsicherheiten berührungslos Temperaturen zu messen, müssen die Strahlungsthermometer und Thermografiekameras nicht nur kalibriert, sondern radiometrisch und strahlungsthermometrisch umfassend charakterisiert werden. Auch die optische Materialeigenschaft, der spektrale Emissionsgrad und die Gesamtstrahlungsbilanz (Strahlung des Messobjekts und der Umgebung) sind bei der industriellen Temperaturmessung von großer Bedeutung. In den letzten Jahrzehnten ist dazu ein umfassendes technisches Regelwerk entstanden, das wir Ihnen mit diesem VDI-Statusreport vorstellen. Manche in den Richtlinien beschriebenen Kennwerte mögen abstrakt wirken. In diesem Statusreport zeigen wir an konkreten Beispielen, was diese Kenngrößen für die berührungslose Temperaturmessung bedeuten. Beispiele von Anwendungen zeigen, wo temperaturmessende Thermografiekameras und ausschließlich bildgebende Wärmebildkameras in der Praxis eingesetzt werden. Mit einer Analyse, welche Themen und Anwendungen derzeit besonders intensiv diskutiert werden, versuchen wir Trends für zukünftige Entwicklungen herauszuarbeiten.
Pulse-compression thermography is an emerging technique that has shown versatility by combination of pulsed and lock-in thermography. Accordingly, several aspects of this technique are still unexplored, and some others not fully developed yet. Barker codes were widely used in radar applications due to their simplicity and their optimum autocorrelation function. Nevertheless, applications were limited by the amplitude of the sidelobes present in the autocorrelation function and therefore, several filters have been developed which aim to reduce the sidelobes. However, the filters usually depend on empirical parameters which must be determined for each application. A better alternative would improve the applicability of the Barker codes. In this work, we further develop the pulse-compression thermography technique by introducing a 13-bit modified Barker code (mBC): This allows to drastically reduce the sidelobes characteristic of the 13-bit Barker code (BC). Consequently, the thermographic impulse response, obtained by cross-correlation, is almost free of such sidelobes. Deeper defects become easier to detect in comparison with using a 13-bit Barker code. Numerical simulations using the finite element method are used for comparison and experimental measurements are performed in a sample of steel grade St 37 with machined notches of three different depths: 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm.
Pulse-compression thermography is an emerging technique that has shown versatility by combination of pulsed and lock-in thermography. Accordingly, several aspects of this technique are still unexplored, and some others not fully developed yet. Barker codes were widely used in radar applications due to their simplicity and their optimum autocorrelation function. Nevertheless, applications were limited by the amplitude of the sidelobes present in the autocorrelation function and therefore, several filters have been developed which aim to reduce the sidelobes. However, the filters usually depend on empirical parameters which must be determined for each application. A better alternative would improve the applicability of the Barker codes. In this work, we further develop the pulse-compression thermography technique by introducing a 13-bit modified Barker code (mBC): This allows to drastically reduce the sidelobes characteristic of the 13-bit Barker code (BC). Consequently, the thermographic impulse response, obtained by cross-correlation, is almost free of such sidelobes. Deeper defects become easier to detect in comparison with using a 13-bit Barker code. Numerical simulations using the finite element method are used for comparison and experimental measurements are performed in a sample of steel grade St 37 with machined notches of three different depths: 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm.
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.
Learned block iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm for photothermal super resolution imaging
(2020)
Block-sparse regularization is already well-known in active thermal imaging and is used for multiple measurement based inverse problems. The main bottleneck of this method is the choice of regularization parameters which differs for each experiment. To avoid time-consuming manually selected regularization parameters, we propose a learned block-sparse optimization approach using an iterative algorithm unfolded into a deep neural network. More precisely, we show the benefits of using a learned block iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm that is able to learn the choice of regularization parameters. In addition, this algorithm enables the determination of a suitable weight matrix to solve the underlying inverse problem. Therefore, in this paper we present the algorithm and compare it with state of the art block iterative shrinkage thresholding using synthetically generated test data and experimental test data from active thermography for defect reconstruction. Our results show that the use of the learned block-sparse optimization approach provides smaller normalized mean square errors for a small fixed number of iterations than without learning. Thus, this new approach allows to improve the convergence speed and only needs a few iterations to generate accurate defect reconstruction in photothermal super resolution imaging.
This paper presents deep unfolding neural networks to handle inverse problems in photothermal radiometry enabling super resolution (SR) imaging. Photothermal imaging is a well-known technique in active thermography for nondestructive inspection of defects in materials such as metals or composites. A grand challenge of active thermography is to overcome the spatial resolution limitation imposed by heat diffusion in order to accurately resolve each defect. The photothermal SR approach enables to extract high-frequency spatial components based on the deconvolution with the thermal point spread function. However, stable deconvolution can only be achieved by using the sparse structure of defect patterns, which often requires tedious, hand-crafted tuning of hyperparameters and results in computationally intensive algorithms. On this account, Photothermal-SR-Net is proposed in this paper, which performs deconvolution by deep unfolding considering the underlying physics. This enables to super resolve 2D thermal images for nondestructive testing with a substantially improved convergence rate. Since defects appear sparsely in materials, Photothermal-SR-Net applies trained blocksparsity thresholding to the acquired thermal images in each convolutional layer. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated and discussed using various deep unfolding and thresholding approaches applied to 2D thermal images. Subsequently, studies are conducted on how to increase the reconstruction quality and the computational performance of Photothermal-SR-Net is evaluated.
Thereby, it was found that the computing time for creating high-resolution images could be significantly reduced without decreasing the reconstruction quality by using pixel binning as a preprocessing step.
Learned block iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm for photothermal super resolution imaging
(2022)
Block-sparse regularization is already well known in active thermal imaging and is used for multiple-measurement-based inverse problems. The main bottleneck of this method is the choice of regularization parameters which differs for each experiment. We show the benefits of using a learned block iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm (LBISTA) that is able to learn the choice of regularization parameters, without the need to manually select them. In addition, LBISTA enables the determination of a suitable weight matrix to solve the underlying inverse problem. Therefore, in this paper we present LBISTA and compare it with state-of-the-art block iterative shrinkage thresholding using synthetically generated and experimental test data from active thermography for defect reconstruction. Our results show that the use of the learned block-sparse optimization approach provides smaller normalized mean square errors for a small fixed number of iterations. Thus, this allows us to improve the convergence speed and only needs a few iterations to generate accurate defect reconstruction in photothermal super-resolution imaging.
The coherent superposition of two anti-phased thermal wave fields creates a zone of destructive interference which is extremely sensitive to the presence of defects without any reference measurements.
Combining a high power laser with a spatial light modulator allows modulating phase and amplitude of an illuminated surface that induces spatially and temporally controlled thermal wave fields. The position and depth of defects are reconstructed from analysis of the Amplitude and Phase of the resulting photothermal signal. The proposed concept is experimentally validated and supported by numerical modeling.
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.
The spontaneous emission of a GaAs-based tapered laser diode emitting at λ = 1060 nm was measured through a window in the transparent substrate in order to study the carrier density distribution inside the device. It is shown that the tapered geometry is responsible for nonuniform amplification of the spontaneous/stimulated emission which in turn influences the spatial distribution of the carriers starting from below threshold. The carrier density does not clamp at the lasing threshold and above it the device shows lateral spatial hole-burning caused by high stimulated emission along the cavity center.
Mechanisms and fast kinetics of the catastrophic optical damage (COD) in GaAs-based diode lasers
(2011)
COD diagram determined for a batch of broad-area AlGaAs diode lasers. The time to COD within a single current pulse is plotted versus the actual average optical power in the moment when the COD takes place. Full circles stand for clearly identified COD events (right ordinate), whereas open circles (left ordinate) represent the pulse duration in experiments, where no COD has been detected. A borderline (gray) exists between two regions, i. e., parameter sets, of presence (orange) and absence of COD (blue). This borderline is somewhat blurred because of the randomness in filamentation of the laser nearfield and scatter in properties of the involved individual devices.
The early stages of catastrophic optical damage (COD) in 808 nm emitting diode lasers are mapped by simultaneously monitoring the optical emission with a 1 ns time resolution and deriving the device temperature from thermal images. COD occurs in highly localized damage regions on a 30 to 400 ns time scale which is determined by the accumulation of excess energy absorbed from the optical output. We identify regimes in which COD is avoided by the proper choice of operation parameters.
We present an all-purpose crack detection algorithm for flying spot thermography which is directly applicable to a thermogram sequence without the need of any additional information about the experimental setup. A single image containing distinct crack signatures is derived in two steps. Firstly, the spatial derivative is calculated for each frame of the sequence and, secondly, the resulting data set is sorted pixel wise along the time axis. The feasibility of the proposed procedure is proven by testing a piece of rail that comprises roll contact fatigue cracks and by comparing the results with magnetic particle testing.
Widerstandspunktschweißen ist insbesondere im Automobilbau eine der wichtigsten Fügetechniken. Bislang erfolgt die Qualitätssicherung überwiegend durch stichprobenartige zerstörende Prüfung. Eine zerstörungsfreie Prüftechnik würde neben der Reduzierung der Prüfkosten auch eine Optimierung des Punktschweißverfahrens bedeuten, da prinzipiell jeder Schweißpunkt geprüft werden könnte und somit auch eine Reduzierung der Anzahl der Schweißpunkte möglich ist.
Es wird ein Verfahren vorgestellt, bei dem die Punktschweißverbindung zwischen zwei Stahlblechen optisch auf einer Blechseite mittels Laser oder Blitzlicht erwärmt wird. Die aufgeschmolzene Zone, die sogenannte Schweißlinse, stellt dabei neben der mechanischen Verbindung auch eine Wärmebrücke zwischen den beiden verschweißten Blechen dar, die bei diesem Verfahren ausgenutzt wird. Durch den verbesserten thermischen Kontakt zwischen den verschweißten Blechen an der Schweißlinse kontrastiert diese deutlich mit dem umgebenden Blechmaterial, bei dem der Wärmeübertrag zwischen den Blechen vergleichsweise gering ist. Dieser Kontrast im thermischen Verhalten kann mittels zeitabhängiger Thermografie gemessen werden.
Durch das hier vorgestellte Verfahren kann mittels aktiver Thermografie sowohl in Transmissions- als auch in Reflexionsanordnung die Größe des thermischen Kontaktes zwischen den beiden Blechen ermittelt werden, welche ein Maß für die Größe der Schweißlinse und damit für die qualitative Güte der Schweißung darstellt. Ein Vorteil des entwickelten Verfahrens ist seine Anwendbarkeit auf Bleche ohne Oberflächenbehandlung.
Wärmebehandlung und zerstörungsfreie Prüfung: Oberflächenrisse mit der Laser-Thermografie finden
(2015)
Die Thermografie als zerstörungsfreies Prüfverfahren erlaubt das Erkennen einer Vielzahl von Defekten in unterschiedlichsten Werkstoffen. Hierzu ist zum einen eine Energiequelle erforderlich, welche einen Wärmestrom im Werkstück erzeugt, und zum anderen eine Infrarot-Kamera, welche den orts- und zeitabhängigen Temperaturverlauf der Werkstückoberfläche analysiert. Neue Ansätze unter Verwendung von Lasern ermöglichen nun auch die Prüfung auf winzige Oberflächenrisse. Die aktuelle Grenze der Nachweisempfindlichkeit für mittels klassischer Thermografie nur schwer prüfbare hochreflektierende Metalloberflächen liegt mit Rissbreiten und -tiefen bis hinunter in den Sub-Mikrometerbereich und damit im Bereich der fluoreszierenden Magnetpulver- und Eindringprüfung. Dabei sind jedoch weder Verbrauchsmittel, noch eine Oberflächenpräparation notwendig und eine Prüfung kann berührungslos und automatisiert über Entfernungen bis in den Meter-Bereich erfolgen. Bei der Wärmebehandlung und insbesondere beim Randschichthärten mittels Laserstrahlung stehen ebenfalls hochleistungsfähige Energiequellen zur Erzeugung intensiver dynamischer Temperaturgradienten zur Verfügung. Damit eröffnet sich unmittelbar die Möglichkeit der Integration der thermografischen Prüfung in die Fertigung. Der Beitrag stellt die neuesten Entwicklungen der vielversprechenden Laser-Thermografie-Technik vor und zeigt, warum deren Einsatz potentiell die Standardprüfverfahren Magnetpulver- bzw. Eindringprüfung für eine Reihe von Prüfproblemen beerben könnte.
Wärmebehandlung und zerstöungsfreie Prüfung: Oberflächenrisse mit der Laser-Thermografie finden
(2014)
For the last 20 years active thermography has developed into a standard method in non-destructive material testing. It has become possible to detect defects such as cracks, voids, or even material inhomogeneities. Until now, it is still difficult to quantify subsurface or hidden defects in size due to the diffusive nature of heat flow within a solid. Facing this issue, lockin thermography and other photothermal techniques have been established. They are based on exciting a sample periodically (e.g. with a halogen lamp), causing a controlled periodical heat flow and thereby representing strongly damped thermal waves. These techniques make use of interference and reflection of thermal waves which allow enhancing depth resolution.
So far, only the temporal component of the light source was modified to achieve a defined vertical heat flow – In contrast, we propose a novel technique in which we are able to control both: time and space. This technique enables us to exploit the possibilities of coherent thermal wave shaping. We achieve that by combining a spatial light modulator (SLM) with a high power laser. This approach allows us to launch a set of individually controlled and fully coherent high energy thermal waves into the sample volume. That means, we intentionally use wave propagation throughout the sample’s material in both - vertical and lateral direction. As one possible application, we use a thermal waves’ interference effect of two phase shifted wave patterns to detect the position of hidden defects. The wave patterns are positioned with a certain distance and a 180° phase shift to each other creating an amplitude depletion zone right in the middle of the two patterns. When a defect is brought unsymmetrically into the depletion zone, the lateral heat flow is disturbed. If the sample is now moved through the depletion zone, a defect can be easily characterized. Exciting periodically while controlling simultaneously phase and amplitude enables us to have a defined thermal wave propagation throughout the sample which means thermal waves can be controlled almost like acoustical or optical waves. This offers the opportunity to transfer known technologies from wave shaping techniques to thermography methods.
The detection and characterization of surface cracks in steel specimens prior to damage is a technologically and economically highly significant task and is of utmost importance when it comes to safety-relevant structures. In steel production where steel billets at high temperatures have to be inspected while moving a number of well-established NDT methods cannot be applied. Laser thermography however is a promising candidate to serve as a fast, non-contact and remote tool in this case. We present a study that shows that the crack detection capabilities of laser thermography can be extended also to specimens at high temperature. A combination of inductive and laser heating allows to systematically study the contrast formation as well as the optimization of the important measurement parameters. The experiments are accompanied by FEM simulations that provide a better insight of the physical correlations and support the experimental developments. The aim of these studies is to develop a system with high inspection speed and detection performance to be in-line operated under the hostile environment of steel production lines.
In-line laser thermography for crack detection at elevated temperature: A Numerical modeling study
(2016)
The detection and characterization of cracks prior to damage is a technologically and economically highly significant task and is of very importance when it comes to safety-relevant structures. The evaluation of a components life is closely related to the presence of cracks in it. Laser thermography has already high capability for the detection of surface cracks and for the characterization of the geometry of artificial surface flaws in metallic samples. Crack detection in metallic samples at high temperature is highly significant in present manufacturing scenario. During the casting process of billets, surface cracks form, due to the suboptimal cooling rates. These cracks reduce value of the billet and must be removed using machining process after cooling. This secondary process increases cost of manufacturing. In this work we developed a heat transfer model for laser thermography to study the thermal contrast variation with increase in surface temperature using finite element method (FEM). Here we are mainly concentrating the capability of the scanning laser thermography in crack detection which are in elevated temperature and numerical modeling study of thermal contrast variation of crack with respect increase in metal surface temperature. This study is important to prove the capability of laser thermography for crack detection in elevated temperature. Since we are using High power CW Laser to local heating of the metal surface which can give relatively high thermal contrast even at elevated temperature compare to other heating source. Here we are modeled and simulated 2D laser scanning across a surface breaking crack and developed an algorithm to produce the vicinity of crack. The algorithm we developed applied for various surface temperature data. And validated the credibility of the algorithm with experimental data.