ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we discuss the effects of heat on materials, including thermal properties and changes in the structure of materials that arise because of exposure to heat. These characteristics of materials also form the basis of materials evaluation methods that depend on the use of thermal properties of materials and thermal measurement techniques. Thermal inspection measurements are usually made using infrared detection equipment, for which a range of techniques and specialized terminology have been developed, including such methods as ultrasonic generation of heat in test materials, a method known as
ultrasonic thermography
.
