Introduction of active thermography and automatic defect segmentation in the thermographic inspection of specimens of ceramic tiling for building façades

• Published in: Infrared physics & technology 2022-03, Vol.121, p.104012, Article 104012
• Main Authors: Garrido, Iván, Barreira, Eva, M.S.F. Almeida, Ricardo, Lagüela, Susana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active infrared thermography; Automated inspection; Ceramic tiles; Defects; Image processing; Region segmentation
• ISSN: 1350-4495; 1879-0275
• DOI: 10.1016/j.infrared.2021.104012

•Active InfraRed Thermography to monitor specimens in different laboratory tests.•Automation in the thermographic data processing and Segmentation of defect areas.•Subsurface defects simulate detachments and water infiltration in the specimens.•Good results are obtained regardless of the wetting degree and ceramic properties.•This work serves for a first and fast inspection in ceramic tiling building façades. InfraRed Thermography (IRT) has proven to be a valuable diagnostic tool due to its real-time, remote, and non-destructive operation yielding accurate detection of the position of defect areas in building façade ceramic tiling. Ceramic tiles coating building façades are widely used throughout the world because of their technical and aesthetic characteristics. However, the detachment of ceramic tiles and the water infiltration in deep layers are still common problems. So, this paper proposes active infrared thermography as a thermographic acquisition mode, in contrast to the common use of passive thermography, and segmentation of defect areas and automation in the thermal image processing as added values never before proposed in the ceramic tiling thermographic inspection. For that, specimens of ceramic tiling for building façades were tested under different laboratory conditions, with inserted corks (simulating detachments), and by injecting water into holes drilled in the back surfaces (simulating water infiltration), as defects. Good results have been obtained in all the tests, both in dry and wet conditions in the specimens and for surfaces with homogeneous and heterogeneous surface properties, serving the introduction of this workflow for a first and fast inspection in ceramic tiling building façades. Future research will work with the fine-tuning phase of the methodology by applying it to real case studies.