IR Thermography and RGB Combined Processing Methodology for Defects and Deformations Localization on the Go

Active infrared thermography (IRT) is commonly utilized for contactless non-destructive testing (NDT). Defects and deformations in the structure cause unequal heat dissipation, which an infrared camera captures. The thermal image is an excellent tool for describing invisible faults in image sequences. This study is motivated to develop a methodology in which the infrared (IR) image is first captured using an IR camera, which depicts the deformation in a sequence of different colors based on heat dissipation, then analyzed using image processing techniques, and finally localized to the original sample with three different colored contours indicating the severity of deformation. The novelty of the proposed methodology lies in mapping the IR image onto the red green blue (RGB) image and spotting the deformations. The methodology described in this paper can localize the cracks, corrosion, and any unusual bend in the structure and the crack tip propagation. In terms of accuracy and efficiency, the proposed method is promising for the ongoing ex-situ nondestructive examination of different structures with 97% accuracy.