Ultrasonic Testing

By: Chris Wu
CEE 398
3/5/04
 Introduction
■ High-frequency sound waves are sent out at a material
to find material changes
■ A pulser produces an electrical pulse that causes a
piezoelectric transducer to send out a sound wave
■ Reflected waves are transformed back into electrical
signals by the transducer and analyzed
■ Its main applications are in thickness gauging and flaw
detection
 Background
■ Originated from sonar technology, which was developed
just before World War II
■ Sonar uses technique of bouncing echoes off of
submerged objects to detect them
■ Ultrasonics, a form of nondestructive testing, was
applied to “safe life” design, which ensures that
structures don’t develop macroscopic defects during its
life, and any detection led to its removal
 Background (cont’d)
■ In the early 1970’s, ultrasonic testing had made large
strides and could detect extremely small defects or
discontinuities in metals
■ An unforeseen downside was that many manufacturers
were now discarding more metal parts that were deemed
satisfactory earlier
■ This in turn led to fracture mechanics, which allowed the
determination of whether “a crack of a given size would
fail under a certain load if the fracture toughness were
known (ndt-ed.org).”
 Background (cont’d)
■ Fracture mechanics allowed for the concept of fail safe
design, which stated that structures could have defects
as long as they would not grow to cause failure.
■ Over the past few years, ultrasonic testing has become
more popular due to advances in both computer and
information technology
 Theory and Technique
■ High frequency sound energy is used to find such
things as material flaws and dimensional
measurement
■ Items needed to run an ultrasonic test:
◻ Pulser/receiver unit
◻ Piezoelectric transducer
◻ Display devices
 The Role of Each Device
■ A pulser/receiver creates a high voltage
electrical pulse, which is sent throught the
material in the form of propagating sound waves
by the transducer
■ Any discontinuity or flaw in the material will
cause some energy to reflect back
■ The reflected waves are converted into an
electrical signal by the transducer and amplified
by the receiver for signal processing
 The Role of Each Device (cont’d)

■ The amplified electrical signal is then displayed

on a screen
■ The reflected signal strength is often displayed
vs. time b/w signal generation and echo
reception
■ D= vt/2 for normal beam inspection of
discontinuities, different for angle beams
■ This can lead to info on the flaw’s size, location,
and orientation among other things
 Picture Gallery
Transducer

Test Specimen

Pulser/Receiver

Display Device
 Pros
■ Advantages
◻ Sensitive to both surface and subsurface
discontinuities
◻ Penetration depth is better than other NDT methods
◻ With pulse-echo, access to only one side is needed
◻ Highly accurate in regards to reflector size, shape,
and location
◻ Minimal part preparation
 Cons
■ Disadvantages
◻ Surface must be accessible to transmit ultrasound
◻ More training required relative to other methods
◻ Coupling medium is normally required to promote
transfer of sound
◻ Has difficulty inspecting rough, small, or irregularly
shaped objects
◻ Linear defects parallel to sound beam may go
undetected
Piezoelectric Transducers
■ PT’s contain polarized material
■ When electric charge is
applied, dipoles are induced
and dimensions change
■ If a force is placed on the
material, it will change
dimensions and create an
electric field
The Piezoelectric Effect
Crystal material at rest: No forces applied,
so net current flow is 0

Crystal

+-+-+-

Current Meter
=0

Charges cancel +-+-+-

each other, so
no current flow
 The Piezoelectric Effect

Crystal
Crystal material with forces applied
in direction of arrows………..
-----

Force

Current Meter
+++++
deflects in +
direction

Due to properties of symmetry,

charges are net + on one side &
net - on the opposite side: crystal gets
thinner and longer
 The Piezoelectric Effect
Changing the direction of the
applied force………..
Crystal

++++

Force Current Meter

deflects in -
----- direction

…. Changes the direction of

current flow, and the crystal gets
shorter and fatter.
 The electromechanical effect
When the switch is closed, and you apply the exact amount
of power to get the same current that resulted when you squeezed
the crystal, the crystal should deform by the same amount!!
Crystal

++++ + side
power source
(battery)
----- - side

…. and, the crystal should get shorter and fatter.

 Transducer types
■ Contact ■ Immersion
◻ Direct contact w/ specimen ◻ Non-contact
◻ Rugged casing and plates ◻ Operates in liquid
◻ Uses coupling material to
remove air gaps
 References
■ www.ndt-ed.org
■ www.ndt.net
■ www.ndtsupply.com
■ www.qnetworld.com