Cooling-down of thermal thick probes after flash excitation - A measure for the real energy density?

Though flash lamps are one of the most applied heat sources in the field of Thermographic Testing (TT) using active thermography, only little is known about the actually achieved energy input into test objects. In this paper, an easy to realize sensor concept is proposed and experimentally evaluated. The concept is based on the measurement of the surface temperature of a thermal thick probe after flash excitation. After considering the sensor concept with FEM simulations the experimental investigation of four materials (two polymer and two building materials) is described. It will be shown that a suited coating is essential for the realization of the sensor concept. The experimental results prove the suitability of black rigid PVC as the most promising material. Using a coated PVC sample the energy density of short laser pulses, similar to flashes of flash lamps, could be determined exactly with an estimated relative uncertainty of only a few percent.