Fatigue Damage Evaluation of Short Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics Based on Phase Information of Thermoelastic Temperature Change.

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) is widely used for structural members of transportation vehicles such as automobile, aircraft, or spacecraft, utilizing its excellent specific strength and specific rigidity in contrast with the metal. Short carbon fiber composite materials are receiving a lot of attentions because of their excellent moldability and productivity, however they show complicated behaviors in fatigue fracture due to the random fibers orientation. In this study, thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) using an infrared thermography was applied to evaluate fatigue damage in short carbon fiber composites. The distribution of the thermoelastic temperature change was measured during the fatigue test, as well as the phase difference between the thermoelastic temperature change and applied loading signal. Evolution of fatigue damage was detected from the distribution of thermoelastic temperature change according to the thermoelastic damage analysis (TDA) procedure. It was also found that fatigue damage evolution was more clearly detected than before by the newly developed thermoelastic phase damage analysis (TPDA) in which damaged area was emphasized in the differential phase delay images utilizing the property that carbon fiber shows opposite phase thermoelastic temperature change.

Fatigue Damage Evaluation of Short Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics Based on Thermoelastic Temperature Change and Second Harmonic Components of Thermal Signal.

Short fiber reinforced plastics (SFRPs) have excellent moldability and productivity compared to continuous fiber composites. In this study, thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) was applied to detect delamination defects in short carbon fiber reinforced plastics (SCFRPs). The thermoelastic temperature change ΔTE, phase of thermal signal θE, and second harmonic temperature component ΔTD were measured. In the fatigue test of SCFRP, it was confirmed that changes in ΔTE, θE, and ΔTD appeared in the damaged regions. A staircase-like stress level test for a SCFRP specimen was conducted to investigate the generation mechanism of the ΔTD. The distortion of the temperature change appeared at the maximum tension stress of the sinusoidal load-and when the stress level decreased, the temperature change returned to the original sinusoidal waveform. ΔTD changed according to the change in the maximum stress during the staircase-like stress level test, and a large value of ΔTD was observed in the final ruptured region. A distortion of the temperature change and ΔTD was considered to be caused by the change in stress sharing condition between the fiber and resin due to delamination damage. Therefore, ΔTD can be applied to the detection of delamination defects and the evaluation of damage propagation.

Detection of dentinal microcracks using infrared thermography.

INTRODUCTION: It is difficult to make a definite diagnosis of a cracked tooth solely based on an inspection within the root canal, especially in case of microcracks. At present, there seems to be no established method to detect dentinal microcracks in roots; therefore, the current detection techniques need to be improved. Vibrothermography (VibroIR) helps to detect microcracks by the friction heat generated from ultrasonic vibration. The purpose of this study was to establish a novel method using VibroIR to detect dentinal microcracks. METHODS: The root canals of 20 roots with cracks and control roots were prepared after removing the tooth crowns. A tapered indenter was inserted into the root canal and pressed until a microcrack was created under an optical microscope. Using VibroIR, the detection trials for dentinal microcracks were performed with an ultrasonic vibration power ranging from 0.43 to 1.48 W at an angle of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° between the ultrasonic vibration point and the microcrack line. After the detection test, the microcrack width was measured with an optical microscope. RESULTS: Frictional heat was detected in the microcracks with thermography at 0.89 to 1.48 W and at an ultrasonic vibration point angle less than 60° from the crack line for 10 seconds. Microcracks with a width of 4 to 35.5 µm were detected with this method. CONCLUSIONS: VibroIR may be an effective method for the diagnosis of root dentinal microcracks.