On the suitability of induction coils for crack detection and sizing in metals by the surface magnetic field measurement technique

The surface magnetic field measurement (SMFM) technique has proved to be an accurate means for crack detection and sizing cracks in ferrous metals. The technique involves the use of two U-shaped current-carrying wires of sufficiently high frequency while measuring the discontinuity in the resultant magnetic field at the crack edge with an appropriate magnetic field sensor. In this work, we describe a mathematical algorithm to obtain the crack signal from the output of an induction coil used in a SMFM probe. We also discuss the measurement errors due to the coil size and shape. To reduce the measurement errors, we present an algorithm in which the crack signal is recovered by appropriate deconvolution of the coil output signal and its spatial transfer function. The algorithm is then used to recover crack signals for various coil shapes and sizes. The study of the results demonstrates the effectiveness of the algorithm in the case of large coils.