NDT Techniques: Electrical also depends on the length, depth, and orientation of

the crack. For a given electrode arrangement, material

This section focuses on special electrical techniques resistivity, and excitation current, any change in the
not represented in the two primary classes of elec- observed potential drop will represent a corresponding
tromagnetic NDT, namely eddy current and magnetic change in the geometry of the specimen including the
methods. crack. A calibration function must be obtained by
analytical, numerical, or experimental means on a
case-to-case basis in order to interpret the measured
potential difference in terms of the varying geometrical
1. Potential Drop or Resistivity Method parameter. As an example, Fig. 2 shows the ex-
DC or low-frequency AC electric resistance measure- perimentally determined electrical resistance versus
ments have been used to measure the wall thickness of crack length curve in a 1.27 mm thick 2024 aluminum
metal plates, pressure vessels, boilers, tubes, ship hulls, plate at 2 mm electrode separation. The excess re-
and castings since the 1930s (McMaster 1959). This sistance above the " 22 µΩ intrinsic resistance of the
simple technique was first found applicable for crack uncracked plate is more-or-less proportional to the
detection after a surface crack interposed between the length of the crack over a wide range of 30 mm. Recent
electrodes had been claimed to be the reason for trends in the development of the potential drop
anomalous readings during wall thickness testing. method include high-frequency AC measurements up
Because of the inherently high contact resistance to a few MHz. Here, the diminishing penetration
between the measuring electrodes and the specimen to depth of the electrical current allows the inspection of
be tested, the potential drop (PD) method is usually near-surface regions with increased sensitivity and
realized using a four-point resistance measurement current focusing by placing a conductor wire on the
schematically shown in Fig. 1. A given current I is surface. Thus, the current distribution in the specimen
driven between the two outer electrodes and the is laterally confined and tends to mirror the injection
resulting potential drop V between the two inner current in the wire above the specimen. These modifi-
electrodes is measured by a high input resistance cations allow the ACPD method to be used for residual
voltmeter to avoid any spurious voltage drop due to stress measurements in case-hardened and shot-
the uncertain contact resistance between the electrodes peened specimens.
and the specimen. Generally,

Iρ 2. Low- and High-frequency Dielectric Methods

Vl (1)
K The electrical permittivity and loss factor are very
sensitive to subtle changes in the physical and chemical
where ρ denotes the resistivity of the specimen and K is state of dielectric materials and can be readily exploit-
a constant having the units of length. Without a crack, ed for nondestructive materials characterization
K depends only on the separation of the electrodes and (Mopsik 1998). Examples of typical applications
the thickness of the plate. In the presence of a crack, K include monitoring of epoxy resin curing in adhesive
bonds and epoxy matrix composites, relaxation
measurements in polymers, humidity assessment, and
thermal damage characterization. Measurements are
usually carried out in a wide frequency range from
10−% to 10) Hz and at different temperatures depending
on the specific application. At these frequencies,
dielectric probes are usually realized as discrete ca-
pacitive sensors filled with or placed in close vicinity to
the specimen to be tested, that is generally much
smaller than the electromagnetic wavelength. Micro-
wave dielectric sensing methods operate in the fre-
quency range of 10)–10"" Hz and are typically one of
two major types; radiating types that operate in either
transmission or reflection mode and can be placed at a
relatively large distance from the specimen, and
nonradiating types composed of a partially open
microwave resonator, for example, an open coaxial
wave guide, placed in the vicinity of the specimen
Figure 1 much like a conventional capacitive sensor, though in
Four-point electrode arrangement for detection and length this case the dimensions of the specimen are con-
assessment of edge cracks. siderably larger than the wavelength (Bahr 1982).

1
NDT Techniques: Electrical
Crack resistance (lX)

Crack length (mm)

Figure 2
Experimentally determined electrical resistance versus
crack length curve in a 1.27 mm thick 2024 aluminum plate
at 2 mm electrode separation.
Figure 3
Schematic diagram of the thermoelectric measurement as
3. Thermoelectric Method most often used in nondestructive materials
characterization.
Most thermoelectric NDT methods are based on the
well-known Seebeck effect, commonly used in thermo- Clearly, chemical composition exerts the strongest
couples to measure temperature at the junction of two effect on the thermoelectric properties and accordingly
different conductors (Morgner 1991). Figure 3 shows the basic application of thermoelectric materials
the schematic diagram of the thermoelectric measure- characterization is metal sorting. However, it is known
ment as most often used in nondestructive materials that under special conditions, materials of identical
characterization. One of the reference electrodes is chemical composition can also produce an efficient
heated by electrical means to a preset temperature, thermocouple as a result of different heat treatments,
very much like the tip of a temperature-stabilized hardening, texture, fatigue, etc., which can be further
soldering iron. The thermoelectric voltage is measured exploited for nondestructive testing of materials.
by a sensitive voltmeter with respect to another Recent results indicate that interface imperfections
electrode that is left cold at room temperature. The and closed cracks can also be detected and quan-
measurement is done quickly in a few seconds to titatively characterized by thermoelectric means, since
ensure (i) that the hot reference electrode is not cooled heat conduction through contacting surfaces is rela-
down perceivably by the specimen and (ii) that the rest tively less reduced than electrical conduction (Hu and
of the specimen beyond the close vicinity of the contact Nagy 1998). In the future, noncontacting thermo-
point is not warmed up perceivably. The thermo- electric methods based on magnetic detection of weak
electric voltage is then given by thermoelectric currents are expected to become avail-
able as a result of continuing development of very
VSR l & Th

Tc
SSR( T ) dT (2)
sensitive sensors such as the superconductive quantum
interference device (SQUID) magnetometers.

where SSR denotes the difference between the thermo-

electric powers of the specimen to be tested and the Bibliography
reference electrode, and T is the temperature. As- Bahr A J 1982 MicrowaŠe NondestructiŠe Testing. Gordon and
suming that SSR does not change significantly between Breach, New York
the temperatures of the hot Th and cold Tc junctions, Hu J, Nagy P B 1998 On the role of interface imperfections in
the thermoelectric voltage can be roughly approxi- thermoelectric nondestructive materials characterization.
mated as VSR $ (Th–Tc)SSR. Ideally, regardless of the Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 467–9
McMaster R C 1959 NondestructiŠe Testing Handbook. Ronald,
temperature difference between the junctions, only
New York
thermocouples made of different materials of different Mopsik F I 1998 Low frequency dielectric sensing. In: Birnbaum
thermoelectric power will generate a thermoelectric G, Auld B A (eds.) Topics on NondestructiŠe EŠaluation Series.
signal. This unique feature makes the simple thermo- ASNT, Columbus, OH, Vol. 1, pp. 335–42
electric tester one of the most sensitive material Morgner W 1991 Introduction to thermoelectric nondestructive
discriminators used in nondestructive inspection. The testing. Mater. EŠal. 9, 1081–8
thermoelectric power of metals is sensitive to a variety
of material properties that can affect the measurement. P. B. Nagy

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 NDT Techniques: Electrical

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Encyclopedia of Materials : Science and Technology
ISBN: 0-08-0431526
pp. 6016–6018