Pulsed eddy current signal analysis: Application to the experimental detection and characterization of deep flaws in highly conductive materials

Eddy current tests in sinusoidal mode are of great interest to detect flaws in metallic structures. A limitation of this classical method concerns the detection of deep defects in very conductive materials. Such a drawback can be reduced by operating in the transient mode, using a pulsed eddy current technique. In fact, the pulsed character of the electric excitation allows a high peak value of the density of eddy currents in the material; also the broadband signal contains optimized frequencies to probe the sample over a more extended depth. The analysis of the resulting signals is then different from those issue of the sinusoidal mode. The purpose of this paper is to apply pulsed eddy current techniques to specimens containing cracks of different size and depth. First, an original signal analysis was developed to extract the characteristics of well known defects. Then, this approach has been validated by probing different samples with real flaws. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.