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Development of an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) for the noncontact excitation of guided ultrasonic waves

Fatigue damage can develop in aerospace structures at locations of stress concentration, such as fasteners. For the safe operation of the aircraft fatigue cracks need to be detected before reaching a critical length. Guided ultrasonic waves offer an efficient method for the detection and characterization of such defects in large aerospace structures. Noncontact excitation of guided waves was achieved using electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMAT). The transducer development for the specific excitation of the A0 Lamb wave mode is explained. The radial and angular dependency of the excited guided wave pulses at different frequencies were measured using a noncontact laser interferometer. Based on the induced eddy currents in the plate a theoretical model was developed and reasonably good agreement with the measured transducer performance was achieved. The developed transducers were employed for defect detection in aluminum components using fully noncontact guided wave measurements. Excitation of the A0 Lamb wave mode was achieved using the developed EMAT transducer and the guided wave propagation and scattering was measured using a noncontact laser interferometer. These results provide the basis for the defect characterization in aerospace structures using noncontact guided wave sensors.