Nondestructive Testing of Paint Thickness Measurement by Pulsed Infrared Thermography

In this paper, basic principles of active IR thermography are introduced, paints covered sample is excited by exterior energy with ordinary flashing lamps array, the subsequent change of surface temperature of the sample is monitored by an infrared camera, and sequence of thermal wave signal and data acquisition are processed using the computer, then real-time image signal processing and the analysis were carried on by the special software. Finally using the algorithm, the paint level thickness information can be obtained. The setup of IR NDT system and the new heat excitation-device were presented, especially including creation of key part, i.e. the heat excitation-device which was invented by self in laboratory. Comparing with heating equipment of thermal wave imaging (TWI) imported from US, it has some merits such as lower expense, narrower pulse width, lower power loss and so on.