Development of a Highly Sensitive Magnetic Field Detector With a Wide Frequency Range for Nondestructive Testing Using an HTS Coil With Magnetic Sensors

To perform an early stage detection of the deterioration of steel parts used in infrastructures, a nondestructive testing (NDT) method is required, which is capable of evaluating hidden parts such as a steel deck covered with an asphalt pavement. To achieve this, a magnetic field detector should be sufficiently large to detect magnetic fields over a wide range to account for high liftoff. In addition, the detector must be capable of functioning at high frequencies for a high-speed inspection of surface cracks, and at low frequencies to compensate for the skin effect during the inspection of inner or rear side cracks. In this paper, we developed a magnetic field detector for eddy current testing in a wide frequency range by combining a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil made using DI-BSCCO tapes with a tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor. The TMR sensor was attached on the inside of the loop of the HTS coil to maximize the shielding characteristic. We applied the developed system to NDT, which can detect a signal from an artificial crack with a lift-off of 75 mm, which is greater than the thickness of the asphalt pavement. In addition, inner cracks that are 2.7 mm beneath the surface can be detected with a 10 Hz applied magnetic field.