New Directions in Eddy Current Sensing

Eddy current testing is an effective way of detecting fatigue cracks and corrosion in conductive materials. The cost of using the technology is low, and the devices can monitor subsurface defects and defects under insulating coatings without touching the surface of the specimen. Although this technique is applicable for many tasks, the aircraft and nuclear power industries are the primary users of eddy current probes for in-service inspection. Because safety-critical systems depend on early detection of fatigue cracks to avoid major failures, there’s an increasing need for eddy current probes that can reliably detect very small defects. Also there are increasing demands for probes that can detect deeply buried defects to avoid disassembling structures.