Thermally induced deformations measured by shearography

In the present work, the thermo-mechanical behavior, temperature versus thermal deformation with respect to time, of different coating films were studied by a non-destructive technique (NDT) known as shearography. Organic coatings, i.e., Epoxy on metallic alloys, i.e., carbon steels, were investigated at a temperature range simulating the severe weather temperatures in Kuwait especially between the day-time and the night-time temperatures. The investigation focused on determining the in-plane displacement of the coatings, which amounts to the thermal deformation and stress with respect to temperature and time. Along with the experimental data, a mathematical relationship was derived describing the thermal deformation and stress of a coating film as a function of temperature. Furthermore, results of shearography indicate that the technique is a very useful NDT method not only for determining the thermo-mechanical behavior of different coatings but also can be used as a 2D microscope for monitoring the deformation of the coatings in real-time at a microscopic scale.