Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs) have acquired popularity and acceptance in the aerospace industry. Their mechanical characteristics and low weight makes them desirable for fabrication of the structural and nonstructural components. However, the PMCs suffers thermal degradation upon exposure to elevated temperatures. These thermally degraded resins experience drop in mechanical strength and are eventually damaged. Composites visual and microscopic inspection may indicate that the composite is

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... damaged but in actuality may have lost up to 70% of their original strength due to chemical changes resulting from heat damage. This paper will discuss implementation and comparison of portable laser induced fluorescence system and laser induced imaging system to detect heat damage in composites. These systems were considered because conventional methods are not suitable to detect the aforementioned heat damage but are meant to detect mechanical damages such as cracks and material loss. In an effort to understand the implementation of the techniques involved in the detection of heat damage in polymer composites, this paper will discuss the results from the previous study and this study to demonstrate that laser-induced fluorescence offers a great promise as a powerful, innovative approach for rapidly detecting incipient thermal damage in polymer. Finally, discussion on future work will be presented to refine software and hardware components to develop a robust and automated system. Approach Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy is a sensitive and powerful approach for detecting molecules and atoms, measuring species concentrations and energy-level population