New bacterial strains were used with magnetic fields, to improve bacteria mobility.
Different materials and defect were tested: AISI 316L, AA1100 and NiTi.
Bacterial cells allow identifying topographic surface attributes as roughness.
Nano-indentation with 0.6 µm depth and 5.3 µm length were detected by bacteria.
Cracks of about 0.5 µm wide in test block Type 1 ISO were successfully detected.