Line-focusing electromagnetic acoustic transducers for the detection of slit defects

This paper describes the design principles of a line-focusing electromagnetic acoustic transducer (LF-EMAT) and the results of a feasibility test for detecting slit-type defects in metals. The LF-EMAT excites shear vertical (SV) elastic waves and focuses them to a line in a metal body. It consists of a permanent magnet block and a meanderline coil, whose spacing is continuously varied so that the excited SV waves become coherent on a focal line after traveling oblique paths. The measured directivity of generation and reception show a sharp peak at the designed focal line. The LF-EMATs are then applied to detecting slit defects in the bottom surface of steel blocks, on which the focal lines are located. Portions of the scattered defect signals are received by the same EMAT. When operated at 4 MHz, the LF-EMATs are capable of detecting slits deeper than 0.05 mm. The sensitivity decreases with liftoff and the LF-EMATs are usable with liftoff up to 0.6 mm.