Non-destructive Evaluation of Artificial Defects in FDM Printed Parts Using Pulse Thermography

In recent years, considerable efforts have been deducted to evaluate the quality of various products. In this regard, quality control of products fabricated by the additive manufacturing methods has become a new interest. In the 3D printing industry, Defect detection could have a vital role in the final evaluation of products. In this study, artificial defects are located in PLA samples printed with different infills via the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) method. In order to detection of the mentioned defects in these parts, the Active IR Thermography was employed. Thermal stimulation was selected as excitation method. Two different excitation formation including transmission and reflection mode are used. In order to validate the results, the temperature-pixel diagram for each sample were illustrated. The effect of Gaussian filter on thermal images was also investigated to facilitate the identification of the obtained images. The experimental results indicated the capability of thermally stimulated thermographic inspection in detection of defects in FDM printed parts.