In order to quickly detect the interface kissing infect in composite materials, the ultrasonic infrared thermal wave (UITW) technique was researched. By established a finite element model, the UITW detection for surface micro-crack, border vertical crack, delamination and debonding damage in composite materials were numerically simulated. Then, detection experiments for delamination specimen of carbon fiber reinforced composite, fatigue crack specimen of glass fiber reinforced composite and impact damage specimen of T700/BA202 epoxy resin composites were carried out by using the UITW detection method, and the detection results were analyzed and recognized. The results showed that UITW is suitable for quickly detecting and recognizing composite materials interface kissing type damages. Micro-crack (≤0.001 m) could be detected, and the longer the crack and the bigger the crack surface, the easier the crack can be detected. The recognition accuracy for shallow defect (about 0.001 m deep) is up to 95%,and the detection error for 0.002 m crack is 13.88%. Comparing with the ultrasonic C-scan result, the error of size recognition for impact damage is 5.7%. But it has no detection result for debonding damage.
