A Simple Mistake While Performing Active Infrared Thermography Approach: Something we should think about!

We have been introduced to Infrared Thermography (IRT) since World War I and over the last decade the application of this technique has gained impetus. Today, the IRT application is widely used and accepted by many industries such as power generation plants, oil & gas industries, manufacturing factories, medicine, agriculture and biology etc. The technique has been recognized as a reliable tool for technical diagnostics in particular to condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. In fact in some countries, e.g. Russia, in 1998, the United Electrical Networks of Russia, the major producer of electrical power in the country, allowed using IR inspection instead of a traditional visual inspection that is to be performed once a year and recently a few Russian building companies start to include expenses for thermographic inspection into building budgets.

Above mentioned accounts only give us some ideas how important this technique can be for people in this industries. But, once should bear in mind that these examples pointed to the passive mode of IRT only. How about active modes of IRT? Can the technique which is often called Transient Thermography also be reliable for improving quality control in structures in both metals and non metals? This is something we should think about!