The Added Value of Infrared Thermography to Assess the Impact Performance of Composites

Composite materials are becoming ever more popular in an increasing number of applications. This because of their many advantages, amongst others the possibility to create a new material of given characteristics in a quite simple way by changing either the type of matrix, or reinforcement, and/or rearranging the reinforcement in a different way. Of course, once a new material is created, it is necessary to characterize it to verify its suitability for a specific exploitation. In this context, infrared thermography (IRT) represents a viable means since it is noncontact, nonintrusive, and can be used either for nondestructive evaluation to detect manufacturing defects, or fatigue-induced degradation, or else for monitoring the inline response to applied loads. In this work, IRT is used to investigate different types of composite materials, which involve carbon fibers embedded in a thermoset matrix and either glass or jute fibers embedded in a thermoplastic matrix, which may be neat, or modified by the addition of a percentage of a specific compatibilizing agent. IRT is used with a twofold function. First, for nondestructive evaluation, with the lock-in technique, before and after loading to either assure absence of manufacturing defects, or discover the damage caused by the loads. Second, for visualization of thermal effects, which develop when the material is subjected to impact. The obtained results show that it is possible to follow inline what happens to the material (bending, delamination, and eventual failure) under impact and get information, which may be valuable to deepen the complex impact damaging mechanisms of composites.