Defect characterization by inductive heated thermography.

During inductive-thermographic inspection, an eddy current of high intensity is induced into the inspected material and the thermal response is detected by an infrared camera. Anomalies in the surface temperature during and after inductive heating correspond to inhomogeneities in the material. A finite element simulation of the surface crack detection process using active thermography with inductive heating has been developed. The simulation model is based on the finite element software ANSYS. The simulation tool was tested and used for investigations on steel components with different longitudinal orientated cracks, varying in shape, width and height. This paper focuses on surface connected longitudinal orientated cracks in austenitic steel. The results show that depending on the excitation frequency the temperature distribution of the material under test are different and a possible way to measure the depth of the crack will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]