Feasibility Study on Detection of Crack in Bovine Incisor Using Active Thermography

Bovine incisor was investigated using active infrared thermography(IRT) to visualize crack on bovine teeth. An artificial crack was carefully created in bovine incisor sample by compression load of universal tensile machine. While applying a sinusoidal heat wave to the cracked bovine incisor through halogen lamp, consecutive digital infrared images was captured from the sample surface at a frequency synchronized with heat excitation. Phase information of thermal image was calculated by four-point correlation method and processed to produce the phase image of bovine incisor. This phase image showed clearly the crack on the incisor, which was hardly detected in traditional passive thermography