Separation of conductivity and distance measurements for eddy current nondestructive inspection of graphite composite materials

(Received 1 June 1992, revised 9 November 1992, accepted 11 January 1993)

Abstract
This article deals with the study of a process based on the principle of eddy current sensors for the nondestructive evaluation of graphite composite plates. This research has been carried out in the Laboratoire d'Electricitd Signaux et Robotique by the team working on datacollecting sensors for robotics in collaboration with Aerospatiale. Eddy current sensors are characterized by their impedance, which varies when a conducting material is approached in their sensitive area. For a given sensor, the output signal depends directly on the electrical and geometrical properties of the object. In the case discussed here, the interesting data are the distance between the sensor and the object, and its local conductivity. In order to invert the relationships between the sensor signal and the properties of the material, an external parametrical model has been developed. A scanning of the surface with a sensor designed for good spatial resolution measurements gives two accurate maps of the useful data.