Changting Wang

EDDY CURRENT INSPECTION OF COMPONENTS WITH COMPLEX GEOMETRIES

Eddy current (EC) technique is a common inspection method for the detection of open surface cracks and subsurface anomalies. While manual EC inspection is quite reliable on parts with flat (or large curvature) surfaces and parts with consistent subsurface geometry, EC inspection of parts having more complicated surface and subsurface profiles has to rely on automated scan/data collection and post‐processing. Examples of the structures with complex geometries are aircraft engine rotating parts and multi‐layer aircraft structures (lap joints). Data collection for such structures, in most cases, can be performed by using multiple scans of a single sensor EC probe with multi‐frequency excitation. To improve productivity of the inspection, arrays of EC sensors are applied during inspection for surface flaws. In this work, the flexible ECAP (EC array probe) with sensitivity to the cracks of variable orientations is presented. To resolve the complex subsurface geometry of the aircraft skin, pulsed excitation is ...