There is a need for a Precision Radiometric Surface Temperature (PRST) measurement capability that can achieve noncontact profiling of a sample’s surface temperature when heated dynamically during laser processing, aerothermal heating or metal cutting/machining. Target surface temperature maps within and near the heated spot provide critical quantitative diagnostic data for laser-target coupling effectiveness and laser damage assessment. In the case of metal cutting, this type of measurement provides information on plastic deformation in the primary shear zone where the cutting tool is in contact with the workpiece. The challenge in these cases is to measure the temperature of a target while its surface’s temperature and emissivity are changing rapidly and with incomplete knowledge of how the emissivity and surface texture (scattering) changes with temperature. Bodkin Design and Engineering, LLC (BDandE), with partners Spectral Sciences, Inc. (SSI) and Space Computer Corporation (SCC), has developed a PRST Sensor that is based on a hyperspectral MWIR imager spanning the wavelength range 2-5 μm and providing a hyperspectral datacube of 20-24 wavelengths at 60 Hz frame rate or faster. This imager is integrated with software and algorithms to extract surface temperature from radiometric measurements over the range from ambient to 2000K with a precision of 20K, even without a priori knowledge of the target’s emissivity and even as the target emissivity may be changing with time and temperature. In this paper, we will present a description of the PRST system as well as laser heating test results which show the PRST system mapping target surface temperatures in the range 600-2600K on a variety of materials.

Date Published: 4 June 2013
PDF: 19 pages
Proc. SPIE 8707, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop XVIII, 87070A (4 June 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2016092

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8707:
Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop XVIII
James A. Buford Jr.; R. Lee Murrer Jr.; Gary H. Ballard, Editor(s)