Lift-Off Effect of Koch and Circular Differential Pickup Eddy Current Probes

A flexible or planar eddy current probe with a differential structure can suppress the lift-off noise during the inspection of defects.However,the extent of the lift-off effect on differential probes,including different coil structures,varies.In this study,two planar eddy current probes with differential pickup structures and the same size,Koch and circular probes,were used to compare lift-off effects.The eddy current distributions of the probes perturbed by 0°and 90°cracks were obtained by finite element analysis.The analysis results show that the 90°crack can impede the eddy current induced by the Koch probe even further at relatively low lift-off distance.The peak-to-peak values of the signal output from the two probes were compared at different lift-off distances using finite element analysis and experimental methods.In addition,the effects of different frequencies on the lift-off were studied experimentally.The results show that the signal peak-to-peak value of the Koch probe for the inspection of cracks in 90°orientation is larger than that of the circular probe when the lift-off distance is smaller than 1.2 mm.In addition,the influence of the lift-off distance on the peak-to-peak signal value of the two probes was studied via normalization.This indicates that the influence becomes more evident with an increase in excitation frequency.This research discloses the lift-off effect of differential planar eddy current probes with different coil shapes and proves the detection merit of the Koch probe for 90°cracks at low lift-off distances.

The Effect of Ion Current Density on Target Etching in Radio Frequency-Magnetron Sputtering Process

The effect of ion current density of argon plasma on target sputtering in magnetron sputtering process was investigated. Using home-made ion probe with computer-based data acquisition system, the ion current density as functions of discharge power, gas pressure and positions was measured. A double-hump shape was found in ion current density curve after the analysis of the effects of power and pressure. The data demonstrate that ion current density increases with the increase in gas pressure in spite of slightly at the double-hump site, sharply at wave-trough and side positions. Simultaneously, the ion current density increases upon increase in power. Es- pecially, the ion current density steeply increases at the double-hump site. The highest energy of the secondary electrons arising from Larmor precession was found at the double-hump position, which results in high ion density. The target was etched seriously at the double-hump position due to the high ion density there. The data indicates that the increase in power can lead to a high sputtering speed rate.

Automatic emissive probe apparatus for accurate plasma and vacuum space potential measurements

We have developed an automatic emissive probe apparatus based on the improved inflection point method of the emissive probe for accurate measurements of both plasma potential and vacuum space potential.The apparatus consists of a computer controlled data acquisition card,a working circuit composed by a biasing unit and a heating unit,as well as an emissive probe.With the set parameters of the probe scanning bias,the probe heating current and the fitting range,the apparatus can automatically execute the improved inflection point method and give the measured result.The validity of the automatic emissive probe apparatus is demonstrated in a test measurement of vacuum potential distribution between two parallel plates,showing an excellent accuracy of 0.1 V.Plasma potential was also measured,exhibiting high efficiency and convenient use of the apparatus for space potential measurements.

Parameters analysis and application of the differential excitation detection technology

A differential excitation probe based on eddy current testing technology was designed. Sheet specimens of Q 235 steel with prefabricated micro-cracks of different widths and of aluminum with prefabricated micro-cracks of different depths were detected through the designed detection system. The characteristics of micro-cracks can be clearly showed after signals processing through the short-time Fourier transform（ STFT）. By changing the parameter and its value in detecting process,the factors including the excitation frequency and amplitude,the lift-off effect and the scanning direction were discussed,respectively. The results showed that the differential excitation probe was insensitive to dimension and surface state of the tested specimen,while it had a high degree of recognition for micro-crack detection. Therefore,when the differential excitation detection technology was used for inspecting micro-crack of turbine blade in aero-engine,and smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution was used for signal processing,micro-cracks of 0. 3 mm depth and 0. 1 mm width could be identified. The experimental results might be useful for further research on engineering test of turbine blades of aero-engine.

Information Entropy of Angular Spectrum for Quantitatively Evaluating Eddy Current Distribution Varying in Time Domain

Eddy current (EC) distribution induced by EC sensors determines the interaction between the defectin the testing specimen and the EC, so quantitatively evaluating EC distribution is crucial to the design of ECsensors. In this study, two indices based on the information entropy are proposed to evaluate the EC energyallocated in different directions. The EC vectors induced by a rotational field EC sensor varying in the timedomain are evaluated by the proposed methods. Then, the evaluating results are analyzed by the principle ofEC testing. It can be concluded that the two indices can effectively quantitatively evaluate the EC distributionsvarying in the time domain and are used to optimize the parameters of the rotational EC sensors.

I_(c) measurement of twisted multifilamentary MgB_(2) wires with non-magnetic sheath over a wide range of temperatures and fields

All‐superconducting rotating machines have the potential for meeting the high power density and high efficiency required for electrical aircraft applications.However,very high AC loss encountered in superconducting armature windings could hinder their development.Multifilamentary MgB_(2) wires are one of the promising candidates for the stator windings,due to their potentially low AC loss properties with small filament size and twist pitches.As the first step,the dependence of critical current and n‐value on magnetic fields and temperatures I_(c)(B,T)and n(B,T),which are basic input parameters for AC loss simulation,needs to be measured.In this work,we present transport I_(c)measurements in three non‐magnetic multifilamentary MgB_(2) wires(MgB_(2)/Nb/CuNi/CuZn):one large wire with a 0.70 mm diameter and 25 mm twist pitch,and two small wires with a 0.48 mm diameter each and a 10 mm and 30 mm twist pitch respectively.A four‐probe direct current method is used to measure I_(c) of the MgB_(2) wires with variations in temperature(15-35 K)and magnetic field(0-5.5 T).Full I_(c) data for the small wire with 10 mm twist pitch was obtained,and the n‐values were mostly less than 20.While the I_(c) data for the large wire at low fields was more limited due to heating,the n‐values were higher and could be up to around 100.The difference is attributed to the different filament sizes.Experiments also found that there is no significant hysteresis in the transport critical current measured by decreasing or increasing magnetic fields due to the non‐magnetic sheaths.This non‐hysteretic characteristic is critical for lowering AC loss because the additional losses from magnetic sheaths can be eliminated.From the magnetic‐field dependence of critical current density,an empirical expression has been developed that provides suitable extrapolations to lower fields for the large wire.