Automated visualization of surface morphology of cracks by means of induced current potential drop technique

This paper presents the applicability of induced current potential drop technique to visualize surface morphology of multiple and/or branched cracks. Measurements of potential drop (PD) were performed around intergranular stress corrosion cracks. Data analysis software to extract crack locations from the PD data was developed. The usefulness of the software was investigated by comparing the analyzed results with a photo of the measured crack. The analyzed crack morphology showed good agreement with the photo of the crack though small crack located near greater cracks was not extracted. Moreover, a small crack, which was difficult to be identified from the photo of the crack, was identified with this software.