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Eddy-current inspection of advanced composite materials appears to overcome some of the difficulties typical of ultrasonic inspection. For example, carbon-carbon material can be inspected using eddy-currents without making the sample wet or using any acoustic coupling substances. Eddy-current inspection is very good for detecting fibers and fiber content because the fibers usually conduct electricity very well. Eddy-curre~t measurements can therefore detect broken fibers in many cases where ultrasonic inspection fails to find the damage (broken fibersare not always good at scattering the ultrasonicsl. One of the common arguments against using eddy-currents to inspect composite materials is that they are unable to detect delaminations. This paper presents experimental evidence that suggests that delaminations can be detected with eddy-current inspection. Sabbagh [4] offer theoretical reasoning for the delamination behavior. This paper also presents some experimental data that indicates fiber structure, impact damage, and drilled holes in advanced composite material, including carbon-carbon and graphite-epoxy. Composite materials are of interest to a number of industries for their strength and weight properties. The performance of these materials is obtained by combining strong fibers and a matrix "glue." The resulting material is difficult to inspect because its structure and electrical conductivity are nonhomogeneous. Our experiments apply eddy-current inspection to graphite-epoxy and carbon-carbon composites. We describe our procedure and experimental results for gathering eddy-current measurements that indicate internal features of advanced composite materials. Our measurements of the EMF were made using inductive sensors, excited by various current sources, near samples of material. The EMF measurements, made in the range of 100kHz to SOMHz, indicate features such as fiber tows, impact damage flaws, drilled holes, and weave structure of the material. Laboratory data and model calculations are presented. Computer-controlled electronic instrumentation that uses phase-sensitive techniques measures the amplitude and phase of the induced sensor signal.

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The nuclear power industry faces the serious challenge of convincing a skeptical public and regulatory agencies that it can operate safely and efficiently. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) plays a significant role in this task, and computer modeling is playing a significant role in NDE. The industry now realizes the value of using such modeling to replace expensive experimental tests, as well as to design equipment, and interpret results. Eddy-currents have a traditional place in the inspection of steam generator tubing, and the industry seeks improved tools for such inspections. In this paper, we describe progress in developing a general axisymmetric model that will be part of the volume-integral code, VIC-3Dl. This model will be capable of analyzing tubes with tube supports and rolled-expansion transition zones. Features such as magnetite, sludge, etc., will be included, and materials may be either ferromagnetic or non-magnetic. The model described in this paper will include only differential (or absolute) bobbin coils. Flaws can be of three types: (1) axisymmetric (such as circumferential rings), (2) the usual thin, axially-oriented, crack that is part of VIC-3D's present library, and (3) user-defined flaws, such as inter-granular attack (IGA).