Applications of Optical Coherence Tomography to the Study of Polymer Matrix Composites

Published

January 1, 2002

Author(s)

Joy P. Dunkers

Abstract

The use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to study polymer matrix composites (PMCS) is very recent. So recent, in fact, that the full potential and limitations of this technique have yet to be studied completely since PMCS are a large and varied class of materials. At the onset of this program, OCT was pursued as a technique to non-destructively study PMCS because it offered a combination of spatial resolution and depth of penetration that was not currently available. Research efforts have been focused thus far on fiberglass reinforced composites, although some work has been done on Kevlar. A comparison of OCT and more traditional non-destructive evaluation techniques in the area of PMCS is provided later in this chapter. The discussion will focus on OCT as an NDE tool for microstructural and defect characterization and damage assessment. Since this chapter is a departure from the rest of this book, an introduction to PMCS to provide background and direction is given.

Citation

Applications of Optical Coherence Tomography to the Study of Polymer Matrix Composites

Volume

275

Publisher Info

Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography Chapter in Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography, B. Bouma and G. Tearney, eds.,

Pub Type

Books

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Keywords

composites, damage, microstructure, non-destructive evaluation, optical coherence tomography

Citation

Dunkers, J. (2002), Applications of Optical Coherence Tomography to the Study of Polymer Matrix Composites, Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography Chapter in Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography, B. Bouma and G. Tearney, eds., , [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851567 (Accessed October 14, 2024)