Nondestructive inspection of additively manufactured cylindrical parts using continuous active thermography

In the present paper, applicability of the continuous active infrared thermography in the non-destructive inspection of cylindrical 3D-printed parts has been investigated. In this regard, four cylindrical hollow parts with different dimensions and infills were printed using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) method. In each of the samples, three voids with different dimensions were located. Continuous stimulation as well as flash excitation were employed in order to create thermal contrast. Finite Element Modeling (FEM) was exploited so as to numerically simulate the active thermography procedure. The results proved the capability of continuous excitation even in the detection of lower-sized defects. Moreover, the results indicated an appropriate verification between the FEM and experimental results.