Monitoring fatigue crack growth using magnetic stray field measurements

Abstract To monitor the growth of fatigue cracks in steel specimens, several methods exists. In this paper, the magnetic stray field, which is generated by the magnetisation of the specimen, was measured during loading to investigate how to utilise this data to reliably monitor fatigue crack initiation and growth. Data was collected in a series of fatigue tests on Compact Tension specimens with different force ratios. The evolution of the mean value of the dominant stray field component displayed a sensitivity to stress, plastic deformation and displacement of the specimen. By analysing the stress field induced by the loading, these three causes were distinguished from another. Crack initiation was marked by a large change of the mean magnetic stray field. Moreover, the amplitude of the magnetic stray field components showed a clear peak, at which moment 20% of the life time of the specimen is remaining, indicating that the magnetic stray field might provide a useful method to monitor the evolution of fatigue cracks.