ACTIVE THERMOGRAPHY PART 2: THEORETICAL APPROACH, DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS FOR ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRY

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The application of infrared thermography is usually limited to qualitative thermography, ignoring the wide variety of possibilities provided by the technique when used for monitoring the behavior of the material after the application of a controlled excitation. This technique has been significantly developed in the recent years, emerging as a complete, versatile and innovative solution for non-destructive testing (NDT) in order to obtain a lot of information of materials for their evaluation in a fast way and without high economic investment. This paper aims at giving a global and structured view of the technique following a threefold approach: first, analysing the theoretical research of those steps related with data acquisition and data processing; second, providing different classifications of the technique based on the previous theoretical research; and finally defining its different applications in engineering and industry. Keywords: Active thermography, NDT, thermal image, heating source, image processing.