High resolution inductive sensor arrays for material and defect characterization of welds
First Claim
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1. A method for characterizing friction stir welds in materials comprising:
- providing a sensor having a meandering drive winding with at least three extended portions and at least one sensing element placed between an adjacent pair of extended portions;
passing a time varying electric current through the extended portions to form a magnetic field;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor over the weld region;
measuring an electrical property of the weld region for each sensing element location; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality.
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Abstract
A sensor that characterizes welds in materials. The sensor includes a meandering drive winding with at least three extended portions and at least one sensing element placed between an adjacent pair of extended portions. A time varying electric current is passed through the extended portions to form a magnetic field. The sensor is placed in proximity to the test material and translated over the weld region. An electrical property of the weld region is measured for each sensing element location. The weld quality is determined using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location.
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Citations
71 Claims
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1. A method for characterizing friction stir welds in materials comprising:
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providing a sensor having a meandering drive winding with at least three extended portions and at least one sensing element placed between an adjacent pair of extended portions;
passing a time varying electric current through the extended portions to form a magnetic field;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor over the weld region;
measuring an electrical property of the weld region for each sensing element location; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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35. A method for characterizing weld quality comprising:
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placing an eddy current sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor across the weld region;
measuring an electrical property at each sensor location across the weld region; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality.
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38. A method for characterizing friction stir welds in materials comprising:
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providing a sensor having several concentric circular drive windings with varying numbers of turns in each winding and a magnetoresistive sensor placed at the center of the drive windings;
passing a time varying electric current through the drive windings to form a shaped magnetic field distribution;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor over the weld region;
measuring an electrical property of the weld region for each sensor location; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality.
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47. A method for joining process quality control comprising:
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providing at least one sensor having a meandering drive winding with at least three extended portions and at least one sensing element placed between an adjacent pair of extended portions;
passing a time varying electric current through the extended portions to form a magnetic field;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
measuring an electrical property of the test material with the sensor and test material in relative motion, and using a feature of the electrical property measurement in the control of the joining process.
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Specification