System and method for measuring thermal degradation of composites

A system for measuring thermal degradation of composites, the system comprising:

• a housing having an interior with a side wall, a top wall, and a bottom wall forming an interior, the housing having an opening shaped to expose a test area to be tested to the interior;
• a light-emitting diode that emits primarily ultraviolet radiation, the diode mounted in the side wall of the housing to direct the ultraviolet radiation into the interior and through the opening, and including a high-pass filter that allows only ultraviolet radiation from the light-emitting diode to enter the interior;
• an ellipsoid mirror mounted on the side wall within the interior and shaped and positioned to receive the ultraviolet radiation and reflect the ultraviolet radiation through the opening;
• an image sensor mounted on the top wall of the housing and open to the interior to receive radiation emitted from the test area passing through the opening and generate a signal in response thereto;
• a first parabolic mirror mounted on the top wall within the interior, and a second parabolic mirror mounted on the bottom wall within the interior, the first parabolic mirror facing the second parabolic mirror such that the radiation emitted by the test area is reflected from the first parabolic mirror to the second parabolic mirror, and from the second parabolic mirror to the image sensor, and wherein the ellipsoid mirror is positioned between the first parabolic mirror and the second parabolic mirror;
• and
• an image processor connected to receive a signal from the image sensor, the image processor having a display, the image processor programmed to determine a presence or an absence of thermal degradation of the test area in response to the signal, and the image processor is programmed to actuate the display to display one or both of a live image of the test area and a thermal map of the test area.

A method for measuring thermal degradation of composites, the method comprising:

• actuating a light-emitting diode to emit primarily ultraviolet radiation into an interior of a housing;
• reflecting the ultraviolet radiation from the light-emitting diode by a second reflective surface mounted in the interior and positioned between a first parabolic mirror and a second parabolic mirror positioned in the interior of the housing through an opening in the housing to a portion of a test area to make the test area fluoresce visible light radiation;
• reflecting the visible light radiation by the first parabolic mirror that receives the visible light radiation emitted from the test area to the second parabolic mirror;
• reflecting the visible light radiation from the first parabolic mirror by the second parabolic mirror to the image sensor;
• detecting the visible light radiation reflected by the second parabolic mirror by an image sensor mounted on the housing and open to the interior, and generating a signal by the image sensor in response thereto;
• receiving the signal from the image sensor by an image processor indicative of a property of visible light radiation detected by the image sensor;
• and
• actuating a display by the image processor in response to the signal received by the image processor indicative of a presence or an absence of thermal degradation of the portion of the test area.