Detection of defects in thermoplastic CFRP welded zones using eddy current thermo-sensing

In recent years, thermoplastic CFRP attracts considerable attention especially in aviation and automobile industries due to weldability of thermoplastic CFRP. Ultrasonic testing (UT) is commonly adopted as a testing method for inspecting weld parts although time cost on UT is thought to be problematic. Since eddy current testing (ET) is used for rapid inspection on electrically conductive materials, this paper presents an eddy current based approach for detecting defects in thermoplastic CFRP welded zones. However, it is difficult for conventional ET to detect delamination which is parallel to eddy current although delamination is one of the common forms of weld defect. To detect delamination in thermoplastic CFRP welded zones, new eddy current based approach which utilizes temperature characteristic of electrical conductivity is proposed. The proposal consists of two steps. Firstly, temperature difference between intact zones and defective zones is caused by heating the one side of the weld part. Secondly, the temperature difference is detected by ET utilizing temperature dependency of electrical conductivity.