ACFM is used for detecting and sizing surface breaking flaws. ACFM is also applied to structures both in and out of the water. (It has the advantage over some other techniques that the structure requires minimal cleaning and that it can be applied over paint and other coatings up to several millimetres in thickness).

ACFM is an electromagnetic technique. A sensor probe is placed on the surface to be inspected and an alternating current is induced into the surface. When no defects are present the alternating current produces a uniform magnetic field above the surface. Any defect present will perturb the current, forcing it to flow around and underneath the defect; this causes the magnetic field to become non-uniform and sensors in the ACFM probe measure these field variations.

Two components of this magnetic field are measured – one provides information about the depth or aspect ratio of the defect(s), and the other shows the positions of the defects’ ends. The two signals are used to confirm the presence of a defect and, together with a sizing algorithm, measure its length and depth.