Control Quality of Composite Materials by Using Subminiature Eddy Current Transducers

Abstract

Based eddy current transducer (ECT), a probe has been designed to research composite materials. Defects inspection of composite materials is performed to determine the following standard defects: defect of the metallic and (or) polymer layer uniformity. The subminiature ECT of the original design is used as a sensor in this device, it is made according to a differential scheme of switching on of the coils of a transformer ECT and allowing to localize the control area up to 0.1-0.5 mm. The measurement procedure allowing one to detect defects in composite materials with a high accuracy is described. The sensor was tested on the composite material consisting of paper or low-density polyethylene and aluminum layers in which the model defect was placed. The dependences of the ECT signal on the defect in this structure are given. The determined dependence of electrical conductivity of composite materials on model defects make it possible to carry out defects inspection of composite materials.