Aircraft wheel testing with remote eddy current technique using a HTS SQUID magnetometer

An aircraft wheel testing system using a planar HTS SQUID gradiometer with Joule-Thomson machine cooling in conjunction with differential eddy current (EC) excitation has recently been developed. From a routine performance test in the wheel testing facility at the Lufthansa Base, Frankfurt/M. Airport, we learned that quadrupolar flaw signatures complicate signal interpretation considerably. In order to overcome these difficulties, the system was equipped with a HTS rf magnetometer SQUID sensor and an absolute EC excitation coil. The coil was mounted with a lateral displacement with respect to the SQUID. The geometry was chosen similar to the remote EC technique: a given point on the rotating wheel first passes underneath the excitation coil and then underneath the sensor. We analyzed the dependence of the response field of an inside crack on excitation coil displacement, EC frequency and lock-in phase angle and found an optimum rotation velocity for deep lying defects. The depth selectivity of the technique is discussed.