Ultrasonic Testing

By
Geetanjali Sharma
Devendra Singh
Amit Kumar Jha
 Defect & Discontinuity
• Group A -Discontinuity, Imperfection & In
homogeneities
• Group B –Defect ,Fault & Flaw
Discontinuity- An intentional or unintentional
interruption in the physical structure or
configuration of a part.
Defect- A condition or discontinuity having a size,
orientation, nature or location that impairs the
useful service of the part or that is rejectable
according to specification or standard.
 Need for NDT
• NDT or NDE are the terms used to
represent the techniques that are based
on application of physical principles
employed for the purpose of determining
the characteristics of the materials or
components or systems and for detecting
and assessing the in homogeneities and
harmful defects without impairing the
usefulness of such material or
components or systems.
 Types of NDT Methods
• 1.Ultrasonic Testing
• 2. Eddy Current
• 3. Magnetic Particle
• 4. Dye Penetration
• 5. Radiography
 UT Testing
• This testing is used for finding surface, sub
surface, internal defects in welding,
castings, plate & forgings etc. It can also
be used for tubes. It is more useful to find
out planar defects.
• It can also detect exact depth of the
defect.
 Ultra sonic Testing Procedure
• Basic Procedure:
1.Prepare the surface to remove to obtain
smooth surface.
2.Apply Couplant (Water ,Grease, oil etc.)
3.Pass Ultrasound, with help of Ultrasonic
probes, ultrasound is reflected from defect
boundary and revealed on CRT of UT
machine.
 Basic Principle
1. By Introducing short pulse of sound using
a transducer into a job and receiving the
echo from the defect or back wall then by
finding out the time of journey the defect
location can be determined.
• Distance = Velocity X Time
Sound reflection at a flaw

Probe
Sound travel path
Flaw

Work piece

Principle of time of flight measurement : S=vt/2

2. Sound passes through homogenous
material and is reflected from back wall. It
will take definite time to do so, depending
upon the material thickness and
properties. If there is discontinuity in the
object, the sound will be reflected from it
and will take lesser time.
Plate testing

IP

BE

D1
D
delamination 0 2 4 6 8 10
plate
IP = Initial pulse
F = Flaw
T=D/V BE = Backwall echo
T1=D1/V
T>T1,Since D>D1
Block diagram: Ultrasonic Instrument

amplifier

screen
IP horizontal
BE sweep

clock

pulser
probe

work piece
 Frequency

Time

From the duration of one

One full
oscillation T the frequency f oscillation
(number of oscillations per T
second) is calculated: f=1/T
 Types of Sound waves
1. Longitudinal waves/Compressive waves/
Zero Degree Beam/Straight Beam/
Normal beam
2. Transverse waves/Shear wave/Angle
beam
3. Surface wave/Rayleigh wave
4. Plate wave/Lamb waves
 Sound propagation

Longitudinal
Direction of
wave Direction of propagation
oscillation
Sound propagation

Transverse wave
Direction of propagation
Direction of oscillation
 Types of Probes
1.Normal Probe

A piezoelectric element
in the transducer
converts electrical
energy into mechanical
vibrations (sound), and
vice versa.

The transducer
is capable of
both transmitting
and receiving
sound energy.
2.Angle Probe
 Principles of Ultrasonic Inspection

• Ultrasonic waves are introduced into a material

where they travel in a straight line and at a
constant speed until they encounter a surface.
• At surface interfaces some of the wave energy is
reflected and some is transmitted.
• The amount of reflected or transmitted energy
can be detected and provides information about
the size of the reflector.
• The travel time of the sound can be measured
and this provides information on the distance
that the sound has traveled.
 Technicques of UT
• 1.Pulse Echo Method: In pulse-echo testing, a
transducer sends out a pulse of energy and the
same or a second transducer listens for reflected
energy (an echo).
• Reflections occur due to the presence of
discontinuities and the surfaces of the test
article.
• The amount of reflected sound energy is
displayed versus time, which provides the
inspector information about the size and the
location of features that reflect the sound.
 Digital display
showing signal
generated from
sound reflecting
off back surface.

Digital display
showing the presence
of a reflector midway
through material, with
lower amplitude back
surface reflector.
The pulse-echo technique allows testing when access to only one
side of the material is possible, and it allows the location of
reflectors to be precisely determined.
• The bigger the flaw is in the path of echo
longer the indication & vice versa.
• If the defect will lye near the focus zone of
the echo, the indication will become
bigger.
Crystal Focus Angle of divergence
Accoustical axis
6
D0

N
Near field Far field
 Calibration of UT Machines.
• Range Calibration:-A block of known thickness
and material is used for calibrating x axis
(time/depth).
• Sensitivity Calibration:-A block of similar material
having standards shape & size reflectors are
used for calibrating Y axis (amplitude/size).
IIW V1 Block
Test Techniques – Through-Transmission
• Two transducers located on 11
opposing sides of the test specimen
are used. One transducer acts as a T R

transmitter, the other as a receiver.

• Discontinuities in the sound path will
result in a partial or total loss of T R

sound being transmitted and be 2

indicated by a decrease in the
received signal amplitude.
• Through transmission is useful in 11
detecting discontinuities that are not
good reflectors, and when signal
strength is weak. It does not 2
provide depth information.
0 2 4 6 8 10
Test Techniques – Through-Transmission

Digital display
showing received
sound through
material
thickness.

Digital display
showing loss of
received signal
due to presence
of a discontinuity
in the sound field.
Test Techniques – Normal and Angle Beam
• In normal beam testing, the sound
beam is introduced into the test
article at 90 degree to the surface.
• In angle beam testing, the sound
beam is introduced into the test
article at some angle other than
90.
• The choice between normal and
angle beam inspection usually
depends on two considerations:
- The orientation of the feature of
interest – the sound should be
directed to produce the largest
reflection from the feature.
- Obstructions on the surface of the
part that must be worked around.
Angle beam probe calibration

S1=25mm
S2=50mm
Block Factor-25+50=75mm

1st echo-25mm
IInd echo-25+BF(75)=100mm

IIW V2 Block
Snell’s Law
Calibration of angle probe
• Step1. Connect DAC Calibration Adapter to the
UT instrument and manipulate its delay
regulator to get the 7mm UT instrument digital
distance indication. Adjust amplitude of the
indicated pulse to the 100% of the screen
height. Mark the top of the pulse as a point 1 of
the DAC curve.
• Step2. Change the delay of DAC Calibration
Adapter to get the 75mm UT instrument digital
distance indication. Reduce the Gain of UT
instrument in 11dB. Mark the top of the pulse
as a point 2 of the DAC curve
• Step3. Change the delay of DAC Calibration
Adapter to get the 38mm UT instrument digital
distance indication. Increase the Gain of UT
instrument in 5dB. Mark the top of the pulse as
a point 3 and create DAC curve
 Spectrum of sound
Frequency range Example
Description
Hz

0 - 20 Infrasound Earth quake

Audible
20 – 20,000 Speech, music
sound
Bat, Quartz
> 20,000 Ultrasound
crystal
Atomic structures
gas liquid solid

• low density • medium density • high density

• weak bonding • medium bonding • strong bonding
forces forces forces
• crystallographic
structure
 During one oscillation T the wave front
T propagates by the distance :

Distance travelled

From this we derive:

c=λ/T or c= λf Wave equation

 Wave propagation
Longitudinal waves propagate in all kind of materials.
Transverse waves only propagate in solid bodies.
Due to the different type of oscillation, transverse
waves
travel at lower speeds.
Sound velocity mainly depends on the density and E-
modulus of the material.

Air 330 m/s

Water 1480 m/s
Steel, long 5920 m/s
Steel, trans 3250 m/s
Behaviour at an interface

Medium 1 Medium 2

Incoming wave Transmitted wave

Reflected wave

Interface
Wall thickness measurement

s
s

Corrosion 0 2 4 6 8 10
Through transmission testing

Through transmission signal

1 T R 1

2 T R 2
0 2 4 6 8 10

Flaw
 Ultrasonic Probes
socket Delay / protecting face
crystal Electrical matching
Damping Cable

Straight beam
probe TR-probe Angle beam probe
Block diagram: Ultrasonic Instrument

amplifier

screen
IP horizontal
BE sweep

clock

pulser
probe

work piece
Weld inspection

a = s sinß
F
a' = a - x ß = probe angle
s s = sound path
a = surface distance
d' = s cosß a‘ = reduced surface distance
d‘ = virtual depth
0 20 40 60 80 100
d = 2T - t' d = actual depth
T = material thickness

a
x a'

ß d
Lack of fusion
Work piece with welding s
Straight beam inspection techniques:
Direct contact, Direct contact,
Fixed delay
single element probe dual element probe

Through transmission Immersion testing

Immersion testing

1 2
surface = water delay
sound entry

backwall flaw

IP 1 IP 2
IE IE

BE BE
F

0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10