Scanning induction thermography for subsurface defect orientation detection and depth quantification

Abstract

Pulsed eddy current thermography (PECT) and eddy current lock-in thermography (ECLIT) are non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques of high promising and interest in subsurface defect detection. In the previous researches, the induction coil was set above the defect region and it always parallel to the defect orientation. However, the location and orientation of subsurface defects cannot be determined before detection. Therefore, the scanning induction thermography (SIT) based on dynamic thermography is proposed by some researchers to localize and distinguish the subsurface defects. Still, the main challenges of SIT are how to detect the subsurface defect orientation and quantify the depth. So that, the quantitative analysis in SIT with the new feature extraction methods was investigated and improved to detect the subsurface defect orientation and quantify the defect depth within 5 mm by using experimental studies.