Eddy current inspection is one of the five main non-destructive testing (NDT) methods in the industry, alongside liquid penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, and radiographic testing. Due to its complex theoretical basis, it is the least used and hardest to understand.
If the supply of qualified personnel is inadequate to meet the needs of industry there will be greater efforts to automate and utilize artificial intelligence to perform and evaluate NDT.
Manual methods of performing nondestructive testing (NDT) and human evaluation of the results are rapidly being replaced by automated, digitized, and artificial intelligence interpretation of the results wherever economically feasible.
Aircraft wheels are put through aggressive and cyclic NDT inspection protocol and the wheel’s potential for failure has led manufacturers to require various repetitive inspections at regular intervals.
The eddy current scanning solution that was developed for hard to access HPCR spool areas represents a reliable inspection platform that produced repeatable results.
The continuous ground-breaking advances in the aerospace industry put more and more pressure on nondestructive testing (NDT) equipment manufacturers to be proactively solving new inspection challenges. As such, the recent advances in eddy current array (ECA) have considerably expanded the range of components and assets that can be inspected for surface and near-surface flaws.
Over the last few years, PEC has been developed and improved for much more productive and reliable inspection of a wider range of components. Because of these new developments, PEC is a very cost-effective option for the corrosion screening of several components while in service.
In production, every aircraft structure component will undergo inspection by one of the primary NDT methods. In-service aircraft will experience subsequent nondestructive testing, eddy current inspection being one the primary methods. This article serves to highlight the more common forms of eddy current applications on in-service aircraft.
Nondestructive testing methods range from simple manual and visual techniques to sophisticated eddy current and ultrasound technologies that can be used for spot-checks or incorporated right into the production line.