Pulsed remote field eddy current technique applied to non-magnetic flat conductive plates

Abstract

Non-magnetic metal plates are widely used in aviation and industrial applications. The detection of cracks in thick plate structures, such as multilayered structures of aircraft fuselage, has been challenging in nondestructive evaluation societies. The remote field eddy current (RFEC) technique has shown advantages of deep penetration and high sensitivity to deeply buried anomalies. However, the RFEC technique is mainly used to evaluate ferromagnetic tubes. There are many problems that should be fixed before the expansion and application of this technique for the inspection of non-magnetic conductive plates. In this article, the pulsed remote field eddy current (PRFEC) technique for the detection of defects in non-magnetic conducting plates was investigated. First, the principle of the PRFEC technique was analysed, followed by the analysis of the differences between the detection of defects in ferromagnetic and non-magnetic plain structures. Three different models of the PRFEC probe were simulated using ANSYS. The location of the transition zone, defect detection sensitivity and the ability to detect defects in thick plates using three probes were analysed and compared. The simulation results showed that the probe with a ferrite core had the highest detecting ability. The conclusions derived from the simulation study were also validated by conducting experiments.