Non-destructive testing methods often provide a key understanding of damage when examining carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) without compromising their structural
integrity. Yet the limitations of various accurate nondestructive testing (NDT) methods decrease
the range of application within the commercial aerospace world due to the scale and complexity
of parts post assembly. The study of this thesis investigated impact tests performed on T300 carbon
fiber-reinforced polymer samples to understand if analysis by 2D digital image correlation (DIC)
can be used to identify barely visible impact damage (BVID). The intent is that this process could
allow monitoring of impact damage on an aircraft if baseline pre-impact images are available for
those components. T300/epoxy plate samples were created through VARTM (Vacuum Assisted
Resin Transfer Modeling), impacted following ASTM 7136 guidelines, and tested for residual
compressive strength according to ASTM 7137 guidelines, to showcase the extent of damage.
Strain of the pixels between images was calculated through DIC (Digital Image Correlation) from
Correlated Solutions VIC 2D commercial software. A Lagrange tensor type was chosen for strain
computation with a normalized squared differences criteria for correlation. The results provide a
range of impact imagery via DIC on frontal (impacted) and posterior sides of the samples. By
cross-referencing other NDT methods applied to impacted T300/epoxy at the same or similar
energy levels and nearly identical manufacturing techniques, 2D DIC shows promising evidence
that it could provide evaluation of damage from BVID on CFRPs.