Damage detection of composite materials via IR thermography and electrical resistance measurement: A review

Composite materials, composed of multiple constituent materials with dissimilar properties, are actively adopted in a wide range of industrial sectors due to their remarkable strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratio. Nevertheless, the failure mechanism of composite materials is highly complicated due to their sophisticated microstructure, making it much harder to predict their residual material lives in real life applications. A promising solution for this safety issue is structural damage detection. In the present paper, damage detection of composite material via electrical resistance-based technique and infrared thermography is reviewed. The operating principles of the two damage detection methodologies are introduced, and some research advances of each techniques are covered. The advancement of IR thermography-based non-destructive technique (NDT) including optical thermography, laser thermography and eddy current thermography will be reported, as well as the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) which is a technology increasingly drawing attentions in the field of electrical resistance-based damage detection. A brief comparison of the two methodologies based on each of their strengths and limitations is carried out, and a recent research update regarding the coupling of the two techniques for improved damage detection in composite materials will be discussed.