Through-transmission ultrasonic testing

Figure 6.31 General scheme for through-transmission ultrasonic non-destructive testing. An ultrasonic signal is sent from the transmitter to the receiver through the bonded component. If the received signal, 4r, is very small compared to the transmitted signal, 4t, then it may be concluded that most of the energy has been reflected by an area of low acoustic impedance, i.e. a void may be present [138].

The common civil engineering seismic testing techniques work on the principles of ultrasonic through transmission (UPV), transient stress wave propagation and reflection (Impact Echo), Ultrasonic Pulse Echo (UPE) and Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW). 

The two major techniques in ultrasonic testing arc the pulse-echo mode and the through-transmission mode. In pulse-echo mode, the same transducer is used to emit and receive ultrasonic waves and requires access to only one side of the structure inspected (Fig. 12). The pulse-echo technique is effective on the near side skin laminate only, and the sensitivity decreases as a function of depth [29]. With the through-transmission mode, access to both sides of a structure is required as an emitter probe is placed on one side and a receiver on the other (Fig. 13). This technique measures the signal amplitude of ultrasonic waves transmitted through the material tested and is more sensitive to small defects than the pulse-echo mode. The detection of flaws throughout the whole depth of a... 

Rose, J.L. and J.J. Ditri, Pulse-echo and through transmission Lamb wave techniques for adhesive bond inspection. British Journal of NOT, 34(12), 1992. GogUo, L. and M. Rossetto, Ultrasonic testing of adhesive bonds of thin metal sheets. NDT E International, 32 323-331,1999. 

However, it appears that none of the non-destructive tests currently employed directly correlate with any critical failure property. Most industrial test techniques such as through-transmission and pulse-echo ultrasonics, sonic vibration techniques. X-ray radiography, thermal inspection methods, holography, liquid penetrants, etc. basically attempt to find defects in the joint. Such defects may arise from several sources. Some defects arise from porosity, cracks or voids in the adhesive layer or at the interface and are typically filled with air they will simply be referred to as voids in the present discussions. However, during the service life of the joint such voids may fill with water which makes them far more difficult to detect since, for example, water has a much higher acoustic, impedance than air. Also, zero-volume voids, or debonds, may occur when the adhesive and substrate are in contact but no... 

There have been a number of previous attempts to relate the appearance of higher harmonics in the transmission of ultrasound through bonded structures to the quahty of the bonds [2-9]. Commonly used is the so-called nonhnearity parameter y 2, a measure of the generation of only the second harmonic [2], and the distortion factor K which describes the complete nonlinear content of the response [7]. In this paper cahbrated measurements on samples consisting of two aluminum plates joined together by a thin epoxy layer are presented and discussed. The amphtudes and phases of the ultrasonic waves transmitted through the bond are considered. The measurements are related to the results of destructive tensile tests of the adhesive layer. 

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