Maximizing reader insights into the use of thermography specifically pulsed and pulse phase
thermography (PT and PPT) for the identification of kissing defects in adhesive bonds this
thesis focuses on the application of PT and PPT for the identification of a range of defect
types in a variety of materials to establish the effect of material properties on
identification of defects.Featuring analysis of a numerical model developed to simulate the
thermal evolution created during a PT or PPT experiment after validation through a series of
case studies this model is then used as a predictive tool to relate defect detectability to
the thermal property contrast between defect and bulk materials.Demonstrating a means of
producing realistic kissing defects in bonded joints where insufficient thermal property
contrast exists defects have a limited effect on heat propagation through a component and
therefore are not detected using PT or PPT this thesis discussesthe addition of a small load
to bonds containing kissing defects which was found to open the defects sufficiently to enable
their detection.A low cost infrared detector Flir Tau320 is compared to the research based
photon detector Flir SC5000 and is shown to be suitable for application in PT thus enabling
a significantly lower cost tool to be developed.
