A researcher from the Center for Advanced Friction Studies at Southern Illinois University (SIU) worked with TPUC staff on thermal transport characterization of carbon-carbon composites used in aircraft brakes.  Pan based carbon fiber bundles are believed to conduct heat more efficiently in this material. Thermal images at microscopic level were needed to develop a heat conduction model for this composite.  The lock-in thermography technique developed from an ORNL SEED Money project was used in this study.  An infrared line-laser was used to periodically heat one edge of a plate sample (dimension 1”x1”x0.25”) at 1 Hz.  An IR camera with a microscope attachment was used to monitor the temperature waves on the plate surface (perpendicular to the laser line).  Four images were taken within each heat cycle.  The amplitude and phase maps (Figure below) show the heat conduction pattern in the composite. In Figure 1(a), the matrix (red and yellow on left side of figures) heated up more than the fiber bundles (green).  These reveal that the fiber bundles conduct more heat than the matrix. A computer controlled stage is being built at SIU to improve the sample positioning and camera stability.