Portable Infrared Thermographic System for Detection of Corrosion Under Paint

The development of a man-portable infrared thermal inspection system for the detection of hidden corrosion under paint and other surface coatings in Naval vessel structure is proposed. The development effort will exploit the change in the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of a corroded structure compared with an uncorroded structure to indentify and characterize the degree of corrosion in a painted sample. The technique would permit the rapid evaluation of large scale structures for the presense of hidden corrosion. Maintenance effort would be dramatically reduced by rapidly identifying hidden corrosion so that repair efforts could be focussed on the area of need. Further, the early detection of corrosion would permit remedial action before the corrosion resulted in serious structural deterioration. The implementation of the proposed thermographic approach has the potential to yield significant cost savings through early detection and removal of corrosion.