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Rapid detection of hairline cracks on the surface of piezoelectric ceramics

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Abstract

Lead zirconate titanate, also known as PZT, is a type of piezoelectric ceramics commonly used for actuators in modern hard disk drives (HDDs). These PZT actuators are prone to hairline surface cracks, prompting detection and removal during the HDD production. Machine vision is then utilized for automatic detection of these cracks. The developed image processing approach comprises three steps: extraction of the region of interest, enhancement of crack regions, and elimination of irrelevant features. The key step, crack region enhancement, employs image filtering with a specifically designed filter kernel, capable of extracting thin crack regions from the rough surface of PZT actuators. The experiments show that the algorithm reveals cracks with high accuracy and high sensitivity, whereas the overall processing time satisfies the industrial environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, Thailand

    Withawat Withayachumnankul & Pitikhate Sooraksa

  2. School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

    Withawat Withayachumnankul

  3. College of Data Storage Innovation, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, Thailand

    Pichate Kunakornvong & Channarong Asavathongkul

  4. Thailand Development Engineering, Seagate Technology (Thailand) Ltd., Samutprakarn, 10270, Thailand

    Channarong Asavathongkul

Authors
  1. Withawat Withayachumnankul
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  2. Pichate Kunakornvong
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  3. Channarong Asavathongkul
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  4. Pitikhate Sooraksa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Withawat Withayachumnankul.

Additional information

This research is supported by DSTAR of KMITL, HDDI-NECTEC of NSTDA, and Seagate (Thailand) Ltd.

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Withayachumnankul, W., Kunakornvong, P., Asavathongkul, C. et al. Rapid detection of hairline cracks on the surface of piezoelectric ceramics. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 64, 1275–1283 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-012-4085-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-012-4085-4

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