Defect Detection Of Ceramic Heating Plate Using Ultrasound Pulse Thermography

The applicability of UPT (Ultrasound Pulse Thermography) for real-time defect detection of the ceramic heating plate is described. The ceramic heating plate with superior insulation and high radiation is used to control the water temperature in underwater environment. The underwater temperature control system can be damaged owing to the short circuit, which resulted from the defect of the ceramic heating plate. A high power ultrasonic energy with pulse duration of 280 ms was injected into the ceramic heating plate in the vertical direction. The ultrasound excited vibration energy sent into the component propagate inside the sample until they were converted to the heat in the vicinity of the defect. Therefore, an injection of the ultrasound pulse wave which results in heat generation, turns the defect into a local thermal wave transmitter. Its local emission is monitored and recorded via the thermal infrared camera at the surface which is processed by image recording system. Measurements were performed on 4 kinds of samples, composed of 3 intact plates and the defect plate. The observed thermal image revealed two area of crack in the defective ceramic heating plate.