Non-destructive testing of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer materials with a radio-frequency inductive sensor

A comprehensive experimental study of the non-destructive RF inductive testing technique, based on coupled spiral inductors, is presented in this paper. It is shown that the method can be applicable to the structural health monitoring of CFRP composite materials. The proposed technology is shown to be inexpensive due to simple dielectric printing technology applied to the development of sensors. The proposed technique allows speeding up the measurements substantially, as the application of the array of sensors is straightforward and incurs low cost. The throughput of the overall inspection is of essential importance in the case of large surfaces, like aircraft fuselage, which are still challenging to the alternative non-destructive testing techniques.