Method and means to analyze thermographic data acquired during automated fiber placement

A method of detecting defects in a composite structure fabricated by an automated fiber placement (AFP) process, the method comprising:

• applying heat to the surface of a composite structure using a heat source that moves relative to the composite structure;
• capturing a series of initial thermographic images of the surface of the composite structure after heating the surface using a camera that moves with the heat source relative to the composite structure;
• forming temporally synchronized images comprising sections of a plurality of the initial thermographic images, wherein the sections correspond to portions of the surface that were heated at the same time interval prior to capturing the image section;
• wherein the temporally synchronized images include variations;
• utilizing variations in the thermographic data for the surface to detect one or more defects in the composite structure.