Digital Holographic Interferometry for Wholefield NDT Applications

Abstract

Holographic interferometry is a non-contact whole field optical technique used as a powerful NDT tool. This technique is highly sensitive and maps the object surface deformation as holographic fringe pattern. Conventional holography technique has practical difficulties in recording and reconstructing holograms. With the development in imaging sensor technology and fast algorithms in image processing, digital holography has been established. Digital holography uses high-resolution digital camera for recording holograms and does reconstruction of holograms numerically using a computer. This has enhanced the scope and application of holography for NDT many fold. In this paper application of digital holography to non-destructive testing is presented. The basic principle of digital holography and digital holographic interferometry in obtaining double exposure hologram for NDT is described. The software developed in house for numerical reconstruction of holograms is also explained. The advantages of digital holography over conventional holography in NDT applications are highlighted. Extensive experiments were carried out to prove the detectability of defects in both metallic and non-metallic materials and the results are presented. It is shown that digital holography is able to identify defects in a wide range of materials with great ease because of its high sensitivity and whole field nature.