Bonded repair issues for composites: An investigation approach based on infrared thermography

An original approach based on active Infrared Thermography (IT) addresses the very challenging issue of the nondestructive analysis of bonded repaired CFRP laminates. Difficulties come from the weak property contrast between parts of repaired assemblies and thickness of the joint. Strong attention is given here to the control of experimental tests conditions (heat load, boundary conditions), which allows to develop a physically consistent numerical model of the thermal problem. Comparison between measured and simulated surface temperature fields shows very good agreement regarding temporal and spatial evolutions for composites with different lay-up and offers new solutions for the NonDestructive Testing (NDT) of bonded repaired composites. •Bonded repaired composites are investigated by active Infrared Thermography.•A new experimental procedure is developed to control load and boundary conditions.•Experimental data are correlated by a consistent model of the thermal problem.•This approach captures the specific response of joint inside repaired structures.