This paper presents results of ultrasonic non-destructive testing of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) and glass-fibre reinforced plastics (GFRPs). First, ultrasonic C-scan analysis was used to detect real defects inside the composite materials. Next, the composite materials were subjected to drilling in the area of defect formation, and measured forces were used to analyse the drilling process using recurrence methods. Results have confirmed that recurrence methods can be used to detect defects formed inside a composite material during machining.
Keywords: C-scan; defect detection; drilling; non-destructive testing; polymer composites; recurrence plots.