Eur. Phys. J. AP 22, 103-109 (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap:2003021

The role of anisotropy in the thermoelectric detection of holes in metals

¹ The Hashemite University, PO Box 150459, Zarqa 13115, Jordan
² University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0070, USA
³ The Hashemite University, PO Box 150459, Zarqa 13115, Jordan

Corresponding author: anayfeh@hu.edu.jo

Received: 17 July 2002
Revised: 19 February 2003
Accepted: 28 February 2003
Published online: 10 April 2003

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate that the presence of thermoelectric anisotropy, no matter how small, can be exploited to unmask the presence of cracks and holes in metals. This is in direct contrast with situations involving isotropic metals where such detection is not possible. Although such a phenomenon will occur for all types and shapes of cracks and holes, for simplicity we shall demonstrate our theoretical and numerical modeling on the more mathematically tractable case of a cylindrical hole aligned along an axis of symmetry of an anisotropic metal medium.