This paper reports on a Tone Burst Eddycurrent Thermography (TBET) technique that uses short-time bursts of eddy-currents induced in conducting media to generate local heating inside the material. The transient diffusion of the heat inside the material, induced by pulsed/short-time induction heating, is imaged by measuring the transient temperature profiles on the surface of the material. The presence and characteristics of the defects inside the materials changes the surface temperature transients and thus can be used for the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of conducting materials. Axisymmetric numerical models of the conventional transient thermography technique are used to benchmark the TBET technique. From the temperature profile data, temperature contrast information is obtained for the different defect depths. Temperature contrast data obtained for TBET, in this process, was compared with that obtained from conventional transient thermography data. It was found that the frequency of the eddy-current and, consequently, the skin-depth of the induced field play an important role in the effective utilization of this technique. Simulation details and the experimental results are presented in the paper. Possible advantages of TBET over conventional flash thermography are also discussed and supported by experimental data. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.