Mobile shearography

By reason of their sensitivity , accuracy and non-contact as well as non-destructive characteristics, modem optical methods such as digital speckle shearography have found an increasing interest for NDT applications on the factory floor. With new carbon fiber technologies and other lightweight constructions in aircraft and automotive manufacturing, adapted examination designs and especially developed testing methods are necessary. Shearography as a coherent optical method has been widely accepted as an useful NDTtool. It is a robust interferometric method to determine locations with maximum stress on various material structures. However, limitations of this technique can be found in the bulky equipment components, the interpretation of the complex shearographic result images and at the work with non-cooperative surfaces (dark absorber, bright shining reflectors). We report a mobile shearography system that was especially designed for investigations at aircraft and automotive constmctions.