Aspects of thermography for non-destructive testing in mechanical maintenance

Abstract

Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-contacting, non-destructive testing (NDT) technique that provides relatively fast results from inspections; for example, in the detection of defects in engineering components and in systems' condition monitoring. This study examines the use and possible effectiveness of infrared thermography for the detection of faults and defects in just a few aspects that one encounters in the vast mechanical maintenance arena. The study discusses three aspects of infrared thermography, namely internal leaks inspections using passive infrared thermography, pulse thermography and induction thermography both active IRT NDT techniques for the detection of subsurface and surface defects. The promising results that were obtained by performing an experiment in the laboratory using a model fluid handling pipe network, with three isolation valves connected in parallel, encouraged performing inspections in an operating power plant, where it was suspected that there were leaks from safety and drain isolation valves. In both situations, the results were obtained in a short period of time and indicated that passive infrared thermography can detect internal leaks in pipe networks. Pulsed thermography is an active non-contacting non-destructive testing technique used to detect subsurface defects in monolithic materials and delamination's in composites. In the particular experiment that was performed pulse thermography was benchmarked with the conventional technique of ultrasound testing. PVC, stainless steel and mild steel specimens manufactured with flat bottom holes (as models of subsurface defects) were subjected to pulse thermography. The time duration to detect the presence of a defect represented by a temperature contrast or a hot spot on the specimen's surface was approximately a couple of seconds following the thermal excitation. No further characterization of the defect was possible with the technique. In contrast when using the ultrasound testing technique to test the specimens, it took considerable time to detect the defects, however, data in terms of size and depth beneath the surface became available thus enabling their full characterization.