Probe characterization in ac field measurements of surface crack depth

In the ac field method of crack depth measurement by the Crack Microgauge, the area of the loop formed in the probe gives rise to an induced voltage, which can introduce errors into the depth measurement. In this paper, a method for measuring the probe area is given, and the quality of the probe is thereby characterized. The underlying theory was given previously, and it is applied here to the probe characterization problem. The probe area is determined by two voltage measurements taken on an artificial rectangular flaw machined in an arbitrary metal. By measurements on several such specimens with the same probe, it is confirmed that the area so obtained is a characteristic of the probe and is independent of the specimen material. Thereafter, measurements on various rectangular flaws with probes of different characteristic area were taken, and very good agreement between predicted and real depths was achieved. Both theory and experiments show that probe characterization is of particular importance when this method is used to measure surface crack depths in metals of low permeability such as aluminum.     

Parasitic voltages induced by artificial flaws when measured using the ac field technique

The development of a successful and accurate instrument for measuring surface-breaking cracks in metals using the ac field technique has raised several interesting theoretical problems. Measurements with the instrument, known as the Crack Microgauge, do not rely on any prior calibration against an artificial flaw such as a saw-cut in a test block, but some users accustomed to such a calibration from other devices have nevertheless wished to use the instrument in that fashion and have in some instances reported erroneous results. In this paper, we develop a simple theory to explain and quantify this phenomenon. We calculate the parasitic voltages induced in the instrument probe due to the finite opening possessed by an artificial flaw, and we use these results to reinterpret the instrument readings. Controlled experimental measurements on artificial flaws of rectangular cross-section made in aluminum and in steel are found to be in good agreement with the theory. It is shown, however, that application of the theory requires additional information about the internal phase shift associated with the instrument. To enhance the accuracy of the theory, the effect of the corners of the artificial flaws was also considered, although it was not very influential in this work.