51

Nondestructive Evaluation of Nickel Base Alloys through Ultrasonic Testing Pasquale Buonadonna Sponsored by: Alfa Romeo Avio
Introduction This work aims at verifying the capabilities of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of metal alloys for aeronautical applications through ultrasonic (UT) testing. UT scans were carried out on parallelepipedic samples made of nickel based alloys. During the scans complete UT waveforms were detected and three dimensional volumetric UT files were created. The analysis of such 3D UT files allows for the characterization of material quality. In particular, the determination of grain size is attempted through UT NDE. If material zones with grain size higher than a specified value are encountered, a non conformity in the fabrication process is identified and the component is scrapped. Experimental procedures The nickel based alloy is an Inconel 718. The parallelepipedic samples subjected to UT testing were cut in radial direction from a ring used as thermal screen in jet engines (Fig. 1a and 1b). The ring material displayed a non homogeneous distribution of grain size, as was verified through metallographic examinations. Utilizing the metallographic examinations, grain size was measured with the lineal intercept method [1-3]. This method is relatively simple, free from subjective bias, and amenable to statistical evaluation. The method employs a photomicrograph (Fig. 2). The magnification must be known with accuracy, and must be sufficient to yield an adequate number of grains which are clearly resolved. Random lines are superimposed on the photomicrograph; their total length should approximately be 1000 times larger than the grain diameters. The actual length of these lines on the specimen is obtained by dividing their length on the photomicrograph by the total magnification of the photomicrograph. The grain size is given by equations: NL = Number of grain boundaries Total length of traverse d= Total length of traverse Number of grain boundaries

where NL is the number of grains per unit length, and d is the mean intercept grain diameter. The lineal intercept method applied to photomicrographs of metallographic specimens obtained from the A zone and the B zone of the parallelepipedic samples (Fig. 1b) yielded the following results. In the zone corresponding the outer diameter of the ring (zone A in Fig. 1b), a smaller size grain (4 - 4.5 ASTM) was detected, whereas in the zone corresponding to the inner diameter (zone B in Fig. 1b), a larger size grain (2.5 - 3 ASTM) was verified. In Fig. 3, the actual measurements of grain size area reported versus radial distance from the outer to the inner diameter of the parallelepipedic samples 1 and 2. The superalloy parallelepipedic samples were subjected to UT testing in order to discriminate the material zones characterized by different grain size. The possibility of discrimination is based on the relationship between the grain average dimension D, and the UT wavelength, , when the D/ ratio is 1 (as in this case) [4-6]: D/ were is the coefficient of ultrasonic attenuation in the material. The higher the grain size, the higher the UT signal attenuation and, accordingly, the lower the UT waveform back echo amplitude in an A-scan. In order to optimize the choice of UT probe frequency and focus characteristics, a number of UT A-scans were carried out on the superalloy samples immersed in water [7] both at the outer diameter zone (A zone, Fig. 1b) and at the inner diameter zone (B zone, Fig. 1b). UT focused probes with 5, 10 and 15 MHz resonant frequency were utilized. The 5 and 10 MHz UT probes were focused on the sample surface. The 15 MHz UT probe was focused both on the sample surface and at the sample mid-thickness. Grain size discrimination using the 5 MHz probe was not possible, whereas the 10 and 15 MHz UT A-scans allowed for zone discrimination because the UT waveform back echo amplitude was significantly lower for the B zone than for the A zone. To compare the capability of the 10 MHz and the 15 MHz probes, a parameter K given by the ratio between the minimum value of the back echo amplitude at the A zone and the maximum value of the back echo amplitude at the B zone. The maximum value of the K parameter was obtained for both samples with the 15 MHz probe focused at the sample midthickness, which represents the best UT testing conditions for efficient zone discrimination. Results

52 The system used for volumetric UT scanning is described in [8]. Volumetric UT scans were carried out over a 30 mm x 60 mm area with 1 mm step on both the A zone and the B zone of each parallelepipedic sample (Fig. 1b). Thus, for each volumetric UT scan, 1891 complete UT waveforms were detected, generating a 3D UT file. Each complete UT waveform is composed of 2000 amplitude readings at 0.01 ms time interval (sampling freq. = 100 MHz). From Fig. 4, it can be seen that the back echo amplitude of a typical UT signal in the A zone (Fig. 4a) is higher than in the B zone (Fig. 4c). This confirms that the grain average size in the A zone is smaller than in the B zone. Plotting the back echo amplitude of typical UT signals in the A and B zones (Fig. 1b) in radial direction (from the outer to the inner diameter of the ring Fig. 1a), an approximately linear variation of the back echo amplitude was obtained (Fig. 5a, b). It is worth noting that the difference between the UT back echo amplitudes in the A and in the B zones is much more relevant than any difference between signals obtained within the same zone. This indicates the presence of grain size variations in the radial direction and the absence of significant grain size variations in the circumferential direction of the Inconel 718 ring. A 2-D matrix of back echo amplitudes was obtained from the UT volumetric scans in order to obtain the in-plane "x-graphic" image representation of the sample internal structure [7]. In this way, it was possible to qualitatively verify through UT image examinations the different UT attenuation zones present in the material. After normalization of the 2-D matrix, UT image were created for samples 1 and 2 using 128 gray tones (Fig. 6). The contrast in the image was improved by equalization of the gray tones from 128 to 5 tones (Fig. 7). 3-D UT representation were also generated [8] and displayed in Fig. 8 and 9. Discussion - UT testing and metallographic examinations confirmed that the higher the grain size, the higher the UT signal attenuation in the material. - By examining the UT images obtained from samples 1 and 2 utilizing UT signal attenuation information (back echo amplitude) it is possible to identify, on a qualitative basis, the zones with different grain size as those corresponding to areas with different gray tones. - The grain size measured through metallographic examinations does not show appreciable variations in the circumferential direction, whereas it varies in an approximately linear way in the radial direction. - The UT back echo amplitude (inversely proportional to UT signal attenuation) is constant in the circumferential direction and varies in an approximately linear way in the radial direction. - It seems reasonable to look for a quantitative relationship between grain size and UT signal attenuation. Future work Performance of more detailed micrographic measurements of grain size and identification of a quantitative relationship between grain size and UT signal attenuation in the time and frequency domain. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Underwood, E.E., 1973, Applications of Quantitative Metallograhy, in Metals Handbook, ASM, 8th edition, Vol. 8: 37-47 Hilliard, J.E., 1994, Estimating Grain Size by the Intercept Method, Metal Progress, Vol 85, May: 99-100 Gallo, A., 1994, La Metallografia Quantitativa, Fondazione Politecnica per il Mezzoggiorno d'Italia, Quaderno n. 167, CUEN, Napoli Nicoletti, D., Onaral, B., Bilgutay, N., 1992, Scaling Properties of Ultrasonic Attenuation for Inverse Power-Law Grain-Size Distribution for Different Annealing Durations, Materials Evaluation, ASNT: 788-792 Papadakis, E.P., 1981, Scattering in Polycristalline Media, in Methods of Experimental Physics, ed. P.D. Edmonds, Vol. 19, ch. 5 Papadakis, E.P., 1965, Revised Grain-Scattering Formulas and Tables, J. of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 37, April: 707-710 Teti, R., 1990, Ultrasonic Identification and Measurement of Defects in Composite Material Laminates, Annals of the CIRP, Vol. 39/1: 527-530 Duraccio, R., 1996, Ultrasonic Volumetric Data Processing for NDE, Research Reports of the LAPT: 67-68

53
Sample 1

75
Sample 2

Ring's inner diameter

Ring's outer diameter

Zone B Zone A 11 32

35

10

(a) (b) Fig. 1 - (a) Superalloy ring with indication of parallelepipedic samples positions; (b) dimensions in mm of the samples obtained from the superalloy ring.

(b) (a) Fig. 2 - 100 x micrographs: (a) zone A with small grain size; (b) zone B with large grain size.
Grane size [m]

Grain size[m]

1.05 1 0.95 0 1 outer diam. 2 3 4 5 inner diam.

1.3 1.2 1.1 1 0 1 outer dim. 2 3 4 5 inner dim.

(b) (a) Fig. 3 - Grain size vs. radial distance for: (a) sample 1 and (b) sample 2.

(a) (b) (c) Fig. 4 - Typical UT waveforms: (a) zone A, (b) middle of sample and (c) zone B; sample 1.

54

(a) (b) Fig. 5 - UT back echo amplitude vs. radial distance: (a) sample 1 and (b) sample 2.

(a) (b) Fig. 6 - 2-D in-plane UT images in 128 gray tones: (a) sample 1 and (b) sample 2.

(a) (b) Fig. 7 - Equalized UT images in 5 gray tones: (a) sample 1 and (b) sample 2.

(a) (b) Fig. 8 - 3-D UT representation in the "wire" mode: (a) sample 1 and (b) sample 2.

Fig. 9 - 3-D UT representation in the "surface" mode: (a) sample 1 and (b) sample 2.

55