Evaluation of paint coating thickness variations based on pulsed Infrared thermography laser technique

In this paper, a pulsed Infrared thermography technique using a homogeneous heat provided by a laser source is used for the non-destructive evaluation of paint coating thickness variations. Firstly, numerical simulations of the thermal response of a paint coated sample are performed. By analyzing the thermal responses as a function of thermal properties and thickness of both coating and substrate layers, optimal excitation parameters of the heating source are determined. Two characteristic parameters were studied with respect to the paint coating layer thickness variations. Results obtained using an experimental test bench based on the pulsed Infrared thermography laser technique are compared with those given by a classical Eddy current technique for paint coating variations from 5 to 130 μm. These results demonstrate the efficiency of this approach and suggest that the pulsed Infrared thermography technique presents good perspectives to characterize the heterogeneity of paint coating on large scale samples with other heating sources.