Laser-ultrasound inspection using infrared thermography

1. A method to inspect target materials, the method comprising:

performing a laser ultrasonic inspection of the target materials using a laser ultrasonic inspection system having a generation laser to induce ultrasonic acoustic vibrations in the target material and having a detection laser to detect the vibrations;

performing thermographic inspection of the target materials using a thermographic inspection system;

providing the laser ultrasonic inspection testing system and the thermographic inspection system at a standoff distance from the target typical for a laser ultrasonic inspection system but greater than typically used for thermography; and

analyzing both laser ultrasonic inspection results and thermographic inspection results to determine an internal structure of the target materials.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic inspection results and the thermographic inspection results of the target materials are combined onto a model of the target materials.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining quantitative thermal wall thickness, and identifying a flaw within the target material where an unexpected change occurs in the quantitative wall thickness.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising waiting a predetermined amount of time between performing the thermographic inspection and the ultrasonic inspection, wherein the thermographic inspection of the target materials is performed prior to the ultrasonic inspection of the target materials.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermographic inspection comprises:

illuminating the target materials to induce a thermal transient in the target materials;

acquiring thermal imagery of the target materials over time; and

analyzing the thermal imagery of the target materials to obtain information about the target materials.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermographic inspection system includes a reflective flash lamp and a camera, the method further comprising, illuminating the target materials with the reflective flash lamp at the standoff distance, so the thermographic inspection system and the laser inspection system can be mounted on the same positioning system and the camera can have a larger field of view.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

analyzing ultrasonic displacements detected in the ultrasonic inspection results so that when the target material comprises a composite material information about a deep internal structure of the composite materials is obtained; and

analyzing thermal imagery of the target materials from the thermographic inspection results so that when the target material comprises a composite material information about a near surface internal structure of the composite materials is obtained.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic inspection comprises:

generating a detection laser beam;

directing the detection laser beam to the surface of the target materials;

scattering the detection laser beam at the surface of the target materials to produce light phase-modulated by ultrasonic surface displacements;

collecting the phase modulated light;

processing the phase modulated light to obtain data representative of the ultrasonic surface displacements at the surface; and

collecting the data to analyze the target materials.

9. An inspection system operable to inspect an internal structure of a target comprising:

a laser ultrasonic inspection system operable to inspect the internal structure of the target by creating and detecting ultrasonic displacements in the target;

a thermographic inspection system operable to inspect the internal structure of the target and obtain thermal imagery of the target and mounted on the same positioning system as the laser ultrasonic inspection system that is disposed at a standoff distance from the target typical for a laser ultrasonic inspection system but greater than typically used for thermography;

a processing and control system operable to:

analyze the thermal imagery of the target to yield thermographic inspection results about the internal structure of the target;

analyze the detected ultrasonic displacements at the target to yield ultrasonic inspection results about the internal structure of the target; and

combine the ultrasonic inspection results and the thermographic inspection results of the target materials to obtain information about the internal structure of the target.

10. The inspection system of claim 9 , wherein the laser ultrasonic inspection system comprises:

a detection laser operable to generate a detection laser beam operable to illuminate the ultrasonic surface displacements at the target;

collection optics for collecting light phase-modulated by ultrasonic surface displacements from the detection laser beam scattered by the target surface;

an interferometer to process the phase modulated light and generate at least one output signal; and

an optical processing unit to process the at least one output signal to obtain data representative of the ultrasonic surface displacements at the target.

11. The inspection system of claim 9 , wherein the thermographic inspection system comprises an infrared (IR) transient thermography system.

12. The inspection system of claim 11 , wherein a generation laser beam is created by the ultrasonic inspection system to induce vibrations in the target, and wherein the IR transient thermography system comprises an IR sensitive camera operable to acquire image frames of the target illuminated by the generation laser beam.

13. The inspection system of claim 12 , wherein image frames of the target comprise an array of pixels and are assigned a frame number that corresponds to elapsed time, wherein a quantitative thermal wall thickness is determined by analyzing sequential frames of thermal imagery.

14. The inspection system of claim 12 , wherein the processing unit correlates the detected ultrasound displacements and the thermal imagery.

15. The inspection system of claim 9 , further comprising a control module operable to match thermal imaging frame acquisition to a pulse rate of a generation laser beam.

16. The inspection system of claim 9 , further comprising:

a processing unit so that when the target material comprises composite material, the processing unit: analyzes detected ultrasonic displacements to yield information about a deep internal structure of the composite material;

analyzes thermal imagery at the target to yield information about a near surface internal structure of the composite material; and

correlates information about the deep internal structure of the composite material and the near surface internal structure of the composite material.

17. A large area composite inspection system, comprising:

a generation laser operable to generate a pulsed laser beam operable to induce ultrasonic displacements and thermal transients at a composite material under test;

a laser ultrasonic detection system operable to detect the ultrasonic surface displacements at the composite material;

a thermal imaging system operable to detect the thermal transient at the composite material and mounted with the laser ultrasonic detection system together at a standoff distance from the composite material under test typical for a laser ultrasonic inspection system but greater than typically used for thermography;

a control module operable to match thermal imaging frame acquisition to a pulse rate of the generation laser beam;

a processor operable to:

analyze both detected ultrasonic displacements at the composite material and thermal imagery of the composite material to yield information about the internal structure of the composite material.