Optimised Parameter Sets for Thermographic Inspection of CFRP Metal Hybrid Components

The current development trend in automotive engineering as well as in aviation features an increased substitution of metal components by carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) structures. However, material-specific requirements make a complete replacement of a metal construction by CFRP structures impracticable. Consequently, metallic regions remain in the CFRP base body as metal joints or reinforcements. Frequently, these hybrid transition areas are involved with an increased quality concern. This research explores the methodological deduction of test specimens which allow an thermographic investigation of typical defects based on predefined industrial CFRP machine elements concretely (shaft coupling, hollow shaft, gripper arm). Thereby, the optimisation through systematic parameter variation and the structured parameter documentation in a database are focused within the present research. By deriving inspection task-specific user guidelines, the predominantly manual thermographic testing process can be considerably accelerated.