Garcia Rosa, RenanPereira Barella, BrunoGarcia Vargas, IagoTarpani, José RicardoHerrmann, Hans-GeorgFernandes, Henrique2025-04-282025-04-282025-03-25Garcia Rosa R, Pereira Barella B, Garcia Vargas I, et al., (2025) Advanced thermal imaging processing and deep learning integration for enhanced defect detection in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer laminates. Materials, Volume 18, Issue 7, March 2025, Article number 14481996-1944https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18071448https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/23803Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates are widely used in aerospace, automotive, and infrastructure industries due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. However, defect detection in CFRP remains challenging, particularly in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. Conventional segmentation methods often struggle with noise interference and signal variations, leading to reduced detection accuracy. In this study, we evaluate the impact of thermal image preprocessing on improving defect segmentation in CFRP laminates inspected via pulsed thermography. Polynomial approximations and first- and second-order derivatives were applied to refine thermographic signals, enhancing defect visibility and SNR. The U-Net architecture was used to assess segmentation performance on datasets with and without preprocessing. The results demonstrated that preprocessing significantly improved defect detection, achieving an Intersection over Union (IoU) of 95% and an F1-Score of 99%, outperforming approaches without preprocessing. These findings emphasize the importance of preprocessing in enhancing segmentation accuracy and reliability, highlighting its potential for advancing non-destructive testing techniques across various industries.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/40 Engineering4016 Materials Engineering4001 Aerospace Engineering34 Chemical sciences40 EngineeringArticle1996-19445674191448187