Frequency Response of a Moving Two-Dimensional Defect in Magnetic Flux Leakage Inspection

The detection of magnetic flux leakage (MFL) enables nondestructive detection and characterization of defects in magnetic structures. In this letter, Fourier transforms of the leakage fields from a two-dimensional surface defect are evaluated to produce analytical expressions for the frequency response of MFL signals detected by a flux-sensitive sensor. The expressions show the correlation between the spectral response of the leakage fields, defect dimensions, and sensing element lift-off spacing as a product of frequency-dependent defect-width loss function, spacing loss function, and thickness enhancement function. The lower and upper band edges of the band-limited leakage magnetic fields are theoretically identified. A spectral method for sizing of defects is proposed based on the frequency response.