Patent Document ID: 10094794
Application ID: 15374014
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for non-destructive inspection of composite structures, comprising: (a) developing a calibration curve for an infrared imaging system based on correlation of infrared image data and optical cross-section measurement data acquired from reference standards made of composite material, at least some of the reference standards having at least one wrinkle; (b) collecting infrared image data from a part made of composite material using the infrared imaging system after completion of step (a); (c) detecting the presence of an out-of-plane wrinkle in the part based on the infrared image data collected in step (b); (d) generating thermographic line profile data based on the infrared image data; (e) measuring a wavelength of the out-of-plane wrinkle in the part based on the thermographic line profile data generated in step (d); and (f) measuring an amplitude of the out-of-plane wrinkle in the part by applying the calibration curve to the thermographic line profile data generated in step (d).