Wood is used everywhere and for everything. With time, this material presents many alterations, which degrade its physical properties. This work presents a study of infrared thermography (IRT NDT) for wood decay detection. The study is based on the difference of moisture content between sound wood and decay. In the first part, moisture content influence on response signal is determined. The second part defines the limits of infrared thermography for wood decay detection. Results show that this method could be used, but with many cautions on depth and size of wood defects. Various heating schemes were tested (reflection, transmission) photo-thermal and microwave. A thermal model along with experimental reults will be presented.

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