The low energy conversion efficiency of electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) is a critical issue in nondestructive testing applications. To overcome this shortcoming, a butterfly coil EMAT was developed and optimized by numerical simulation based on a 2-D finite element model. First, the effect of the structural parameters of the butterfly coil EMAT was investigated by orthogonal test theory. Then, a modified butterfly coil EMAT was designed that consists of three-square permanent magnets with opposite polarity (TSPM-OP) to enhance the signal amplitude. Finally, the signal amplitude obtained from the three types of EMATs, that is, the traditional EMAT, the EMAT optimized by orthogonal test theory, and the modified EMAT with TSPM-OP, were analyzed and compared. The results show that the signal amplitude achieved by the modified butterfly coil EMAT with TSPM-OP can be increased by 4.97 times compared to the traditional butterfly coil EMAT.
Keywords: EMAT; butterfly coils; energy conversion efficiency; orthogonal test theory; signal amplitude.