Abstract: Finite element simulations were conducted by COMSOL Multiphysics software to model the common defects in powder metallurgy (PM) guide rod components, such as notches and inclusions. The effects of excitation frequency and defect location on the output voltage of receiving coils in the electromagnetic tomography (EMT) system were systematically investigated. Furthermore, two image reconstruction algorithms, namely linear back projection (LBP) and Tikhonov regularization, were employed to reconstruct the defect distribution images, and the imaging accuracy was comparatively analyzed. The results show that, the output voltage of the receiving coils increases with the excitation frequency, and a clear linear relationship is observed between the frequency and the imaginary part of output voltage. Therefore, the imaginary part of coil voltage is more suitable for characterizing the variation trend of output voltage. In addition, the variation in imaginary part of the output voltage becomes more significant when the defect is closer to either the receiving or excitation coil. Specifically, at an excitation frequency of 10 kHz, the defects at different positions in the PM guide rod components can be more readily identified. A comparison of imaging quality indicates that, the Tikhonov regularization algorithm provides the superior reconstruction performance, as the notches and inclusions in the reconstructed images align more closely with the original model distributions. Hence, the Tikhonov regularization algorithm is more suitable for the defect image reconstruction in PM guide rod components.