Practical simulation of delamination in composites for thermography NDT

This paper tackles the issue of simulating delaminations in reference standards made of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) used for non-destructive testing by thermography. Thermography results of a real delamination are compared with flat bottom holes with similar size and depth. Results show a notable difference of the thermal contrast between the real delaminations and the FBH. To replicate the thermal behavior of a real delamination, a solution is proposed by plugging the flat-bottom hole. Thermography tests were conducted with plugs using various materials with thermal properties similar to CFRP