Identification of Localized Void Defects in Composite by Recurrence Quantification Analysis of Ultrasonic Backscattered Signal

Abstract

Voids usually have a detrimental effect on the performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). This paper presents a nonlinear dynamic method, known as recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), for the identification of localized void defects. First, five standard CFRP specimens with known porosity ranging from 0.2 to 5.94% are tested using ultrasonic pulse-echo technique, and the obtained backscattered signals are subsequently analyzed by RQA. The result shows that two RQA characteristic parameters, the recurrence rate and the Shannon entropy, both clearly increase with increasing porosity. Next, the RQA is performed on another CFRP specimen with unknown porosity. Two regions in this specimen containing localized void defects are detected based on the above finding. This result is finally verified by a destructive experiment. The research demonstrates that RQA is an effective new method for the identification of localized void defects in CFRP.