A new optical technique for detection of defects in ferromagnetic materials and components

In this paper, we present the details of a new optical technique to detect the defects present in a ferromagnetic material or component, using a ferrofluid emulsion. This new flux leakage probe consists of monodispersed ferrofluid confined between two thin transparent glass slides or in a cuvette and a white light source for illumination. By employing ferrofluid droplets of suitable size and surfactant concentration, one can qualitatively identify the region where the defect is located in the test specimen by visually observing a color change in the ferrofluid cell, in the vicinity of a crack or defect in the test specimen. The origin of this color change in the back scattering direction is due to Bragg scattering from the droplet chains, formed by the leaked magnetic flux in the presence of a defect. We discuss in detail the procedure, the merits and potential uses of this new technique for non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT and E) applications. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.