Eddy Current Measurement of Fiber Volume Fraction in Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

The objective of this work was to develop an eddy current method for measuring fiber volume fraction in continuous-fiber metal matrix composites. Because an eddy current measurement can be affected by the spatial distribution of fibers as well as the overall fiber density, the measurement method had to be tolerant of possible variations in spatial distribution that might be encountered in practice. For this reason, the work began with the development of models of the effective resistivity tensor for a composite with an arbitrary fiber distribution and the resulting eddy current probe response [1,2]. The intent was to use these models to help design a measurement method and to test the method for ordered and disordered arrangements of fibers.