Thermal, optical and mechanical characterization of a composite by all-optical techniques

We present three all-optical methods that were used for the determination of the physical properties of a carbon-epoxy composite. The pulsed photothermal method, the photoacoustic method and the laser-ultrasonics method were used for the determination of, respectively, the thermal diffusivity, the optical penetration length, the thickness and the elastic coefficients of a carbon-epoxy composite covered with a 75 µm paint film at its surface.