Recent developments in the industrial application of microwave NDT

Traditional non-destructive test methods utilise acoustic techniques such as ultrasound, while electromagnetic techniques include eddy current and microwave techniques. Radiography and ultrasound are used to perform most volumetric inspections on both metallic and non-metallic materials, even though they may not be best suited for them in some cases. Microwave inspection, by comparison, is a relatively new method although the concepts have been around since the 1950s, microwave, millimetre-wave and THz NDT has had little industrial use mainly being confined to academic labs to date. In this paper we will describe recent advances in mNDT and describe inspection applications which are hopefully gaining traction for commercial use. The presentation will include recent inspections of wind turbine blades and GFRP composites.