Inverse ultrasonic determination of imperfect interfaces

and bulk properties of a layer between two solids

A. Baltazar, L. Wang, B. Xie, and S. I. Rokhlina)
Nondestructive Evaluation Program, Edison Joining Technology Center, The Ohio State University,
1248 Arthur E. Adams Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43221

共Received 5 March 2003; revised 8 June 2003; accepted 23 June 2003兲

A method for determination of the complete set of physical, geometrical, and interfacial properties
of an isotropic layer embedded between two known solids is discussed. These properties are: Lamé
elastic moduli, density and thickness of the layer, and complex normal and transverse interfacial
stiffnesses between the layer and the substrates. The properties are combined in the form of eight
nondimensional parameters, which are determined from experimental reflection spectra at two
incident angles: normal and oblique. The conditions for simultaneous determination of bulk layer
properties and the interface normal and transverse springs with losses and the stability of the
inversion method against data scatter are addressed. The inversion model is validated by experiment
on normal and angular ultrasonic reflectivity from a layer between two semispaces in dry
mechanical contact and from an environmentally degraded adhesive joint. The layer properties were
measured independently, showing good agreement with the reconstructed results. © 2003
Acoustical Society of America. 关DOI: 10.1121/1.1600723兴
PACS numbers: 43.35.Cg, 43.20.El, 43.35.Zc 关YHB兴

I. INTRODUCTION trasonic signatures perturbed by the interface. Both bulk and

Modern materials are often engineered as layered struc-
tures such as thin films in electronic parts, coatings for ser-
vice life extension, and advanced composite laminates. Also,
different parts are often joined using thin layers, for example,
adhesive bonding, brazing, and diffusion bonding. Properties
of thin layers are often tailored to satisfy design requirements
and thus should be measured as part of quality process con-
trol. The bond integrity and strength 共adhesion兲 between the
layer and the substrate is most difficult to control during
manufacturing and is difficult to measure nondestructively.
However, it is well known that the strength and life expect-
ancy of many engineering structures depends critically on
the bond integrity between structural components. Imperfec-
tions along the bondline such as cracks, porosity, inclusions,
etc. can significantly degrade the performance of the joint.
Very often the imperfections are confined to a very thin layer
in the form of an interphase separating the joining materials
which is difficult to characterize. Ultrasonic methods have
been very promising for nondestructive evaluation of such
interphases.
When the interphasial layer between the solids is thin
and the imperfections are flat, the interphasial layer can be
modeled as an infinitely thin interface connecting the solids
by distributed springs to account for interfacial stiffness re-
duction due to imperfections; and analytically, such an inter-
face can be modeled using spring boundary conditions1
where spring values have been related by a model to the
microcrack distribution.1,2 Significant effort has been put into
experimental and theoretical studies of ultrasonic wave inter-
action with imperfect interfaces.1–24 The goal of these stud-
ies was to characterize interface imperfections measuring ul-
a兲
Electronic mail: rokhlin.2@osu.edu
guided waves were used for this purpose. The reflection re-
sponse from an elastically perfect interface is frequency in-
dependent while from an interface with spring boundary con-
ditions it depends on frequency. By measuring this frequency
response one can determine the interfacial spring stiffness.
For example, in more recent studies Rokhlin et al.18 used the
reflectivity method to characterize an imperfect interface be-
tween a plasma spray coating and a substrate, and Guo
et al.19 applied high-frequency line-focus acoustic micros-
copy to characterize an imperfect interface between a thin
film and a substrate. In these papers models have been de-
veloped and applied in the inversion procedure to determine
interfacial spring constants from the measured acoustic sig-
natures.
Most previous work has focused on single imperfect in-
terface characterization. However, characterization of imper-
fect interfaces between a layer and two substrates is also
important for many material joining and coatings applica-
tions, for example for adhesive bonds which deteriorate in a
humid environment predominantly along the adhesive/
adherend interface20 where a model with water-filled micro-
disbonds was developed to describe damage by distributed
transverse springs and to characterize the degradation. The
distinctive feature of this type of material system is that the
layer is thin, and the ultrasonic signals reflected 共normally or
obliquely兲 from the front and back sides of the layer are not
separated in the time domain and interfere. Thus, ultrasonic
spectroscopy may be applied to characterize two imperfect
interfaces separated by a layer of thickness h. This problem
was addressed recently by Lavrentyev and Rokhlin,21 who
used ultrasonic spectroscopy to evaluate the interfacial con-
ditions from the spectra of longitudinal and shear waves re-
flected normally by the neighboring interfaces. They showed
that the frequencies at which the reflected spectrum minima

1424 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114 (3), September 2003 0001-4966/2003/114(3)/1424/11/$19.00 © 2003 Acoustical Society of America

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 occur are sensitive to interfacial conditions, and, therefore,
may be used for their monitoring.
More recently, Baltazar et al.22,23 demonstrated experi-
mentally that the values of the interfacial normal and trans-
verse stiffness constants obtained from data acquired at nor-
mal incidence may be used to predict the dynamic response
of the interface even when the interrogating wave impinges
on the interface at oblique incidence, i.e., these two interfa-
cial stiffnesses describe the imperfect interface uniquely.
They also provided a theoretical description of the microme-
chanics of rough, contacting surfaces under static normal and
shear loads. In particular, they predicted the values for the
ratio between the normal and transverse interfacial stiffness
constants.
In our and other previous studies it was assumed that the
properties of the bondline layer are known and only imper-
fect interface properties need to be determined from the ex-
periment. However, in many cases the properties of the
bonding layer are also unknown. If the ultrasonic reflectivity
signature from such a layer has an anomaly it is important to
FIG. 1. 共a兲 Layer embedded between two solids with an imperfect interface
know if it is due to the interface 共adhesion兲 imperfections or consisting of two rough surfaces. Using spring approximation complex nor-
due to the layer properties anomaly. Thus, an inverse- mal K N (N/m3 ) and transverse K T springs replace imperfect interface. 共b兲
independent determination of these properties from the ex- Model with effective layer perfectly bonded to substrates. The layer has
same thickness but effective elastic moduli which are selected to match as
perimental ultrasonic signature is important. In this paper we closely as possible the reflected ultrasonic signatures.
address this problem both theoretically and experimentally.
The development is an extension of the inversion method
proposed by Lavrentyev and Rokhlin24 and extended by Equation 共1兲 represents continuity of stress ␴ ik and disconti-
Wang et al.,25 who performed reconstruction of all geometri- nuity of displacement u i at the interfaces; h is the layer
cal and acoustic properties of a layer perfectly embedded thickness. The properties of the interfacial contacts are de-
between substrates. scribed by normal K N (N/m3 ) and transverse K T complex
interfacial spring constants. At perfect 共welded兲 contacts be-
tween solids the spring constants approach infinity.
We consider the layer properties and the interfacial
II. INVERSION MODEL FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION
OF INTERFACIAL AND BULK LAYER PROPERTIES springs, in the boundary conditions 共1兲, to be unknown. We
assume that the substrate properties are known a priori and
A. Definition of independent parameters for the interfacial springs are the same on both interfaces be-
embedded layer with imperfect boundary conditions tween the layer and the substrates. We use six parameters24,25
Let us consider a solid layer imperfectly embedded be- to describe all unknown variables: bulk layer properties and
tween two solids as shown in Fig. 1共a兲. To characterize the two interfacial spring constants. Those parameters will be
interfaces and layer properties the normal and oblique ultra- reconstructed from measured normal and angular reflection
sonic reflection signatures are taken from the layer. Recon- ultrasonic spectra. The model includes in general ten param-
struction of the interfaces and the layer parameters is model eters: Lame’s constants ␭ and ␮, thickness h, density ␳, lon-
based. In the model the imperfect interface conditions be- gitudinal ␣ l and shear ␣ t attenuations, and the interfacial
tween the layer and the substrates are represented by distrib- normal and transverse complex spring constants
uted complex normal and shear springs as shown in Fig.
1共a兲. The spring model is quasistatic and valid for wave- ␭, ␮ , h, ␳ , ␣ l , ␣ t , K N ⫽K N⬘ ⫹iK N⬙ , K T ⫽K T⬘ ⫹iK T⬙ .
lengths larger than the dimensions of the interface disconti- 共2兲
nuities. Using this concept the boundary conditions between
the layer and the substrates are described as However, as discussed below, the attenuation in the
layer and the imaginary parts in the spring constants cannot
␴ zz 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫾ 兲 ⫽ ␴ zz 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫿ 兲 be separated, and therefore a total of eight parameters will be
considered to be unknown. Generalizing the procedure de-
⫽K N 关 u z 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫹ 兲 scribed in Refs. 24 and 25, from the parameters 共2兲 we de-
⫺u z 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫺ 兲兴 , fined two groups of nondimensional parameters. From the
共1兲 normal-reflection spectrum the following four nondimen-
␴ xz 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫾ 兲 ⫽ ␴ xz 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫿ 兲 sional parameters will be determined:

⫽K T 关 u x 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫹ 兲 Zl h␻0
Z n⫽ , H l⫽ , K̄ N ⫽K N / 共 ␻ 0 Z l 兲 , ␣ l , 共3兲
⫺u x 共 z⫽⫾h/2⫹0 ⫺ 兲兴 . Zs Vl

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003 Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties 1425

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 where Z l,s ⫽ ␳ o,s V l,sl is the acoustic impedance; the subscript
s denotes quantities belonging to the substrate; ␳ o is the
density of the adhesive and ␳ s is substrate density, V l is the
longitudinal velocity in the adhesive, and V sl that in the sub-
strate; K̄ N is the nondimensional complex normal interfacial
spring constant, and ␣ l is the longitudinal attenuation in the
thin layer. The angular frequency was chosen as ␻ 0
⫽1 ␮ s⫺1 for convenience. At oblique incidence an addi-
tional set of four nondimensional parameters is determined
Vl Vt
H t␪⫽ , H l ␪ ⫽ , K̄ T ⫽K T / 共 ␻ 0 Z t 兲 , ␣ t . 共4兲
V sl V st
Here, K̄ T is the complex nondimensional transverse interfa-
cial spring constant, V t is the shear velocity in the adhesive
and V st that in the substrate; Z t ⫽ ␳ V t , and ␣ t is shear attenu-
ation in the adhesive.
The energy loss at the interface is accounted for by
imaginary parts in the interfacial stiffness constants (K N,T
⬘ ⫹iK N,T
⫽K N,T ⬙ ) . Physically, the interfacial losses at the in-
terfaces depend on the ultrasonic scattering. Our analysis
shows that the imaginary parts in the complex springs pro-
duce the same effect on the reflection spectra as attenuation
in the thin embedded layer ␣ l , ␣ t and therefore they cannot
be separated by our method. Such separation may be pos-
sible if one considers a different frequency dependence of
these variables; however, this will require a much wider fre-
quency bandwidth of measurement than is used in our work.
Thus, depending on the physical conditions we assume that
only one of the pair of attenuations is unknown and used for
reconstruction: either the attenuation coefficients ␣ l , ␣ t in-
side the thin layer or the imaginary parts of the interfacial
spring constants; the other pair is considered to be known.
We further discuss this issue in Sec. IV.

B. Discussion of separation of interfacial from bulk
layer properties
As demonstrated in Refs. 24 and 25, all properties of the
layer perfectly bonded to the substrates (K N⬘ ,K T⬘ ⫽⬁) can be
reconstructed from the normal and oblique reflectivity spec-
tra. For this reason, to describe the imperfection of the inter-
faces 共degradation兲 the effective layer model 关Fig. 1共b兲兴 was
used.26 In this model the imperfectly embedded layer is re-
placed by an effective 共equivalent兲 which is perfectly bonded
to the substrates. The layer has the same thickness, but with
effective elastic moduli which are selected to match as
closely as possible the reflected ultrasonic signatures; the ef-
fective moduli 共ultrasonic velocities兲 will be smaller than the
actual ones to account for the reduction of the interface stiff-
ness. Adding interfacial properties as unknown variables in-
troduces additional unknown parameters to be determined.
Assuming that normal and angular reflection spectra are
measured, the first question to be addressed is: is the separa-
tion of interfacial from bulk properties of the layer possible
in principle? In other words, is the problem unique or can the
identical ultrasonic reflectivity signature be obtained from
two different models: the first is the effective layer model
with a perfectly bonded layer between the substrates and
FIG. 2. Effect of bulk and interfacial properties on the spectrum of the
reflected signal from the embedded epoxy layer between aluminum sub-
strates; 共a兲 Reflection coefficient 兩R兩 versus frequency. The solid line is for a
thin epoxy layer embedded between two aluminum plates with imperfect
interfaces (K N⬘ ⫽1⫻1014 N/m3 ). The dashed line is for the effective layer
model with perfect interfaces and the reduced bulk longitudinal wave veloc-
ity; it has been determined by matching of the reflection spectrum at first
minimum 共marked M ) of the layer with imperfect interfaces 共dashed line兲.
共b兲 Shows by solid lines the shift of the reflection spectra minima versus
interfacial spring stiffness (V L ⫽2.59 mm/ ␮ s, h⫽0.18 mm). The dashed
lines correspond to the effective-properties model as in 共a兲.
effective 共artificial兲 properties, and the second is one with
actual layer properties but imperfect bonding to the sub-
strates.
To illustrate this issue, we will use, as an example, simu-
lated reflection spectra at normal incidence. Figure 2共a兲
shows simulated reflection frequency spectra for layers with
two different longitudinal velocities assuming perfect and
imperfect interfaces. The solid line is for a thin epoxy layer
(h⫽0.18 mm, V L ⫽2.59 mm/ ␮ s) embedded between two
aluminum plates with imperfect interfaces (K N⬘ ⫽1
⫻1014 N/m3 ). The dashed line is calculated assuming per-
fect interfaces and the reduced bulk longitudinal wave speed

1426 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003 Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties

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 to V L ⫽1.53 mm/ ␮ s; it has been determined by inverse least-
squared optimization of the matching of the reflection spec-
trum at first minimum 共marked M ) of the layer with imper-
fect interfaces 共dashed line兲. We call the model, with such
matched properties of a perfectly bonded layer, the effective
layer model. As can be seen, only the first minimum position
is overlapped for these two cases; other minima cannot be
matched. The frequencies of the higher resonance minima
become significantly different for the two types of interfacial
conditions. Figure 2共b兲 shows by solid lines the shift of the
reflection spectra minima versus interfacial spring stiffness
(V L ⫽2.59 mm/ ␮ s, h⫽0.18 mm). The dashed lines corre-
spond to the effective-properties model. As in Fig. 2共a兲, to
obtain the effective layer velocity the least-squares spectra
inversion procedure was used to match the first resonance
minimum by the two models at each corresponding value of
the interfacial springs 关marked M in Fig. 2共b兲兴. Thus, for
both models the curves for the lowest resonance coincide.
The positions of the second and third minima are the same
for large values of interfacial stiffness 共i.e., K N⬘
⬎1015 N/m3 ); however, they become different as the inter-
facial stiffness is reduced.
This indicates that in the frequency band covering sev-
eral layer resonances the reflected spectra change differently
with change of bulk layer properties or change of the inter-
FIG. 3. Reconstruction procedure.
facial properties, and the effective layer model will not
match the reflected spectra for imperfect interface conditions
in a wide frequency range. On the other hand, performing spectrum from the imperfectly embedded layer used in the
measurements in a broad frequency range would permit de- reconstruction is deconvolved with the spectra of the refer-
coupling the effect of the interfacial stiffness from the layer ence signal. By this deconvolution, frequency and beam ef-
bulk properties. However, if only one spectral minimum is fects of the transducers are removed from the experimental
measured the effective layer model and the complete model spectra. If the experimental conditions are the same for both
with the interfacial springs give identical inversion results the specimen and reference signal measurements, the beam
and the interfacial springs cannot be separated from the layer effect due to the finite size of the transducer aperture is re-
bulk properties. moved and the plane-wave approximation may be employed
The reflection spectra resonances are formed due to mul- in the properties reconstruction.25
tiple reflections of the ultrasonic signal in the layer, and The flow chart for the reconstruction procedure for the
therefore they are sensitive to the interfacial conditions on parameters 共3兲 and 共4兲 is shown in Fig. 3. First, the normal
both interfaces. We do not intend to separate the conditions and oblique spectra are measured experimentally. Then, the
on these interfaces and assume them to be identical 共such a parameters defined in Eq. 共3兲 are obtained from the normal
separation is unlikely to be possible by this method兲. In our spectrum using a least-square optimization algorithm. These
experiment the surface preparation of the sample to form the reconstructed parameters are then used in a similar optimi-
two interfaces between the layer and the substrates is identi- zation procedure to obtain the rest of the parameters in Eq.
cal; therefore, our assumption that the interfacial springs on 共4兲 from the oblique reflection spectrum. After all nondimen-
both interfaces are identical is reasonable. Our simulations sional parameters have been determined, the dimensional pa-
show that when the interfacial properties are not symmetrical rameters 共2兲 are obtained from 共4兲 and 共5兲.22 Considering the
the reflection spectra behaves somewhat like that for the unknown nondimensional parameters as a variable vector X
symmetrical interfaces with averaged compliances. in a four-dimensional space, their values are calculated by
least-squares minimization of the sum of squared deviations
between the experimental R e (X0 ) and simulated R t (X) spec-
C. Inversion algorithm
tra
As described above, the reflection spectra depend on the
f2
two sets of nondimensional parameters defined by Eqs. 共3兲
and 共4兲 which are reconstructed from the experimental nor- Error共 X兲 ⫽min 兺
f⫽f1
共 兩 R t 共 X兲 兩 ⫺ 兩 R e 共 X0 兲 兩 兲 2 . 共5兲
mal and oblique reflection spectra by minimizing the match-
ing error between the measured and simulated spectra. A X is an iterated set of four unknown nondimensional param-
multilayered wave propagation algorithm24,25 with spring eters 关Eq. 共3兲 or 共4兲兴, X0 is the corresponding actual set of
boundary conditions between layers is used to compute the material properties 共interfacial and bulk layer properties兲. f 1
reflection spectra in the model. The experimental reflection and f 2 are the bounds of the frequency band in which mini

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003 Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties 1427

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 FIG. 4. Cross sections of the 4D error function: 共a兲
K n⬘ – H l cross section for normal incidence measure-
ments. 共b兲 K ⬘t – H t ␪ cross section for oblique incidence
measurements.

mization is performed. The frequency bounds are selected guesses in the range of 20% off the actual values. Figure
based on the transducer bandwidth and the resonance 5共a兲 shows the scatter effect on H l and Fig. 5共b兲 for H l ␪ .
frequencies of the adhesive layer. Equation 共5兲 is applied The standard deviation for H l is within 0.5% and for H l ␪
separately to normal and oblique cases as specified in is 1%.
Fig. 3.
The least-square algorithm may converge to one of the
minima of the error function 共5兲 in the four-dimensional pa-
rameter space. The initial guesses and accuracy of the mea-
surement will affect the convergence of the algorithm and
may make it reach a local minimum rather than the global
minimum corresponding to the actual parameters. To inves-
tigate the influence of the initial guesses we calculated the
error function surface. As an example, two cross sections of
the error function in the form of gray level images are plotted
in Fig. 4. Black corresponds to the smallest level. The non-
dimensional parameters (K n and H l ) in Fig. 4共a兲 and (K t and
H t ␪ ) in Fig. 4共b兲 are normalized and allowed to vary from
50% to 150% of the actual parameters K n0 , H l0 , K t0 , H t ␪ 0 .
Other parameters are kept at the actual value. As can be seen,
only one main minimum exists within this range of variation.
This indicates that the least square minimization process 共5兲
converges to the actual parameters if the initial guesses are
selected within the above variation range and there is no data
scatter. Contours of error magnitudes form ellipses, indicat-
ing that the rate of convergence depends on the direction of
search and the initial guesses. Similar results were obtained
for all other parameters.
The inverse problem discussed above depends on the
measurement accuracy of both the normal and angular reflec-
tion spectra. To assess the effect of data scatter we employed
the algorithm described by Wang et al.,25 who used a ‘‘noisy
spectrum’’ obtained by introducing random scatter into the
time-domain signal calculated by the beam model which
emulates experimental conditions in the angle beam
measurements.25 The simulated experimental signal has been
mixed with random ‘‘noise’’ data. The amplitude of random
data scatter is 2% of the signal peak amplitudes. Due to
data scatter the reconstructed set of layer properties is
not exactly equal to the original set. The difference serves as
a measure of the effects of the data scatter level and the
quality of initial guesses on the inversion algorithm. As
an example, in Figs. 5共a兲 and 共b兲, we plot the relative error
FIG. 5. Histograms for repeated 200 times reconstructions with synthetic
between the reconstructed parameter values and the exact ‘‘noisy’’ time domain signals 共2% scatter兲. Initial guesses are 20% off the
original values as histograms for 200 times repeated recon- actual values. 共a兲 Results for H l for normal incidence measurement; 共b兲
structions for the same data scatter 共2%兲 and different initial result for H l ␪ for oblique incidence measurement.

1428 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003 Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties

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FIG. 6. Experimental setup for the determination of normal and oblique
reflection signals from a thin layer embedded between two aluminum blocks
under controlled load.
III. EXPERIMENT
The key element of this study is to validate experimen-
tally the reconstruction algorithm and to demonstrate the
separation of the bulk layer bulk properties from those of the
interface. To do this we need the ability to measure the prop-
erties by independent techniques, which is a difficult task.
We partially solved this problem by specially designing the
experiments and using thin layers with independently mea-
sured properties and by obtaining controllable interfacial
conditions between the layer and the substrates.
A. Thin layer in dry contact between substrates
1. Experimental procedure
In one series of experiments the measurements were per-
formed on a sample with a thin aluminum layer positioned in
dry contact between two aluminum substrates. The interfa-
cial contacts are controlled by applying predetermined pres-
sure on the layered system. The bulk properties of the thin
layer are measured independently; they do not change under
pressure, but the interfacial contacts vary significantly.21–23
Our objective is to reconstruct these bulk and interfacial
properties from ultrasonic measurements and to compare the
reconstructed bulk properties with the original ones. The re-
sult of this comparison serves as a measure of the quality of
the reconstruction of the properties including those of the
interfaces.
The experimental setup is depicted in Fig. 6; this in-
cludes the mechanical system with load control, ultrasonic
pulser/receiver and transducers, and signal acquisition sys-
tem. The system is self-aligned, allowing homogeneous load-
ing distribution at the contacting area. It is designed to per-
form simultaneous normal and angular acquisition of
reflected signals as the system is subjected to increasing or
decreasing controlled levels of loading.
In the experiments, a 0.77-mm-thick round plate with
25.4 mm diameter is mechanically loaded between the upper
aluminum block A and the lower aluminum cylinder B. The
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003
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nominal contact area and load level produced a range of
applied pressure between 0– 46 MPa. The contacting sur-
faces of the thin plates as well as aluminum substrates
共blocks A and B兲 were roughened with 600⫻-grit sandpaper.
Examining the surfaces after roughening showed a random
distribution of asperities with an rms roughness of about 0.3
microns.
Three longitudinal wave transducers were positioned in
the upper aluminum block: two for oblique incidence in
pitch–catch mode and one for normal incidence in echo–
pulse, as can be seen in Fig. 6. Transducers were all selected
as broadband with central frequency 20 MHz; this allowed
the presence of more than one resonance minimum in our
experiments. The external loading was controlled via a Ma-
terial Test System model 810, and the system operated in the
range of applied load 0–10 klb 共0– 44.5 kN兲.
A critical part of the experiment is careful alignment of
the contacting surfaces to obtain parallelism of the surfaces
in contact; otherwise, nonuniformity of the interfacial stiff-
ness along the contact area might take place 共the misalign-
ment effects have been discussed in detail in Ref. 27兲. To
facilitate alignment, the lower part of the system 共Fig. 6兲 has
a hemispherical support; this allows two rotational degrees
of freedom while providing normal force transfer.
Ultrasonic reflected signals were captured and digitized
for further analysis as a function of the load cycle. The re-
flected spectra from the interface at each loading level were
deconvolved with the reflected spectrum from the free sur-
face.
2. Reflectivity spectra
The use of a thin aluminum layer between aluminum
substrates allows isolating the effect of interfacial stiffness
on reflected ultrasonic signals by eliminating the impedance
mismatch between the layer and the substrates. When the
thin plate and substrates have the same properties, the posi-
tion and amplitude of the reflection minima will depend only
on the interface stiffness, which is allowed to change from
zero, at complete disbond, to infinity for perfect interface
conditions; in this last case the reflection is zero. Lavrentyev
and Rokhlin21 investigated the application of the spring
model to model the reflected signature from normal inci-
dence of longitudinal waves, and established that the fre-
quency minima shift can be used to estimate the normal in-
terfacial stiffness.
Experimental results for the aluminum/aluminum layer/
aluminum system using longitudinal waves at normal and 38
deg oblique incidence versus pressure on the sample are
given in Fig. 7. Results are for nominal pressures ranging
from 10 to 24 MPa with increments of 2 MPa. The reflected
spectra from normal as well as oblique incidence shift to
higher frequencies with increase of applied pressure 共the
resonance minima positions and its depth clearly identify the
shift of the spectrum兲. The frequency minimum shift is about
0.4 MHz between 10 and 24 MPa. The shift of the frequency
minima on pressure is similar in all pressure ranges, indicat-
ing that the saturation point 共frequency independence兲 was
not reached.
Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties 1429

The experimental results for oblique incidence of re-
flected longitudinal waves are given in Fig. 7共b兲. Again, the
spectra of the reflected signal shift to higher frequencies with
increase of pressure. The resonance minima at around 6 and
12 MHz are clearly shifted together with the local minima
which appeared at approximately 9 and 10 MHz. The sensi-
tivity of the minimum shift to pressure is slightly higher at
low frequencies than at high frequencies. Similar results
were obtained for a thin brass foil between Al substrates.
B. Environmentally degraded adhesive joint
The second set of validation experiments was performed
on adhesive bonds with environmentally degraded interfacial
properties. Adhesive joints were prepared with modified in-
terfacial properties and nominally constant bulk properties of
the adhesive layer. The reconstruction of properties was per-
formed from experimental data using the inverse model,
which includes transverse springs simulating poor contact
between substrates and an adhesive layer. The experimental
results were obtained for aluminum alloy bonded with com-
mercial FM-73 adhesive. Interfacial degradation was con-
trolled by time in the environment of NaCl saturated solution
at 68 °C. The sample preparation process was discussed in
detail in Refs. 26 and 28. To isolate the interfacial degrada-
tion from changes of bulk properties of the adhesive, alumi-
num adherents were prepared without anodization and prim-
ing, assuring fast interface degradation. In this case 100%
interface degradation occurs relatively fast 共in a few days兲.
FIG. 8. 共a兲 C-scan of damaged area with 50-MHz focused transducer; 共b兲 reconstructed properties of transverse interfacial stiffness K T⬘ in the area marked by
dashed box in 共a兲.
1430 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003
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FIG. 7. Experimental reflection spectra 共amplitudes
versus frequency兲 for an aluminum/aluminum/
aluminum system under different pressure: 共a兲 normal
and 共b兲 angular incidence reflected spectra 共38-deg in-
cident angle兲.
Ultrasonic data were collected using the dual-channel angle-
beam contact scanning system described in Ref. 28. The nor-
mal and oblique reflected spectra from the adhesive bond
were deconvolved with the reference signal as described in
Refs. 25 and 28. We continue the degradation process after
the measurements until the adhesive layer is easily separable
from the substrates.
At this stage the adhesive layer is removed from the
joint and its bulk properties are measured again 共on a single
layer兲 to compare with the original ones which were mea-
sured after bonding but before degradation, using the recon-
struction method.24
The adhesive joint samples were exposed to the environ-
ment until moisture penetration was detected at one of the
interfaces by the 50-MHz focused transducer C-scan in the
reflection mode 共at this frequency, the reflected signals from
the bottom and top of the adhesive layer are separated and
the transducer is focused on the top interface兲. Figure 8共a兲
shows a typical C-scan image obtained from a sample envi-
ronmentally degraded for 73 h where the darker areas are
associated with water accumulation at the interfaces 共low
reflection amplitudes indicating no disbond are bright areas兲.
The image shows that the water-filled delamination is propa-
gating inward from the edges. It is important to note the
C-scan image is related to one interface. We have performed
C-scans from both sides of the sample and found that the
C-scan images of both interfaces are statistically similar for
the type of environmental degradation performed in this
Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties

FIG. 9. Spectra of the reflected signal at different positions in the environ-
mentally degraded area of the adhesive bond. 共a兲 Normal incidence; 共b兲
oblique incidence 关the curve labels are as in 共a兲兴.
work. The 20- by 25-mm area, marked off by the dashed line
in Fig. 8共a兲, exhibits no visible damage in the C-scan image.
It was used for the dual beam 共normal and oblique兲 ultra-
sonic scan and property reconstruction. An image of the re-
constructed transverse interfacial spring K T in this region is
shown in Fig. 8共b兲. Due to reverberation in the adhesive of
the signal used for reconstruction, the K T image depends on
the reflection from both interfaces as was discussed in Sec.
II B.
As an example, Fig. 9 shows normal and oblique inci-
dence reflection spectra for several points along the center-
line x of the C-scan image in Fig. 9共a兲. The spectrum for
normal incidence 关Fig. 9共a兲兴 at these points is practically
unaffected until x⫽20 mm, which is close to the disbonded
area. The normal spectrum, however, changes as the scan
approaches the edge of the samples toward areas with com-
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plete disbonding. The obliquely reflected SV-wave spectra
show a significant shift 关Fig. 9共b兲兴 as one approaches the
edge of the scanned area. Therefore, the sensitivity of the
obliquely incident waves to the onset of such damage at the
interphase is stronger. This is in line with the model pro-
posed by Lavrentyev and Rokhlin20 to characterize adhesive
bond degradation due to moisture migration to the interface.
It accounts for formation of very thin water-filled interfacial
microdisbonds that produce very little effect on longitudinal
wave reflection at normal incidence. Such a hypothesis is
supported by the infrared measurements performed at
NIST,29 which show that the thickness of the typical water
layer diffused to the adhesive–adherent interface is below 40
nm. Such microdisbonds can be modeled by slip boundary
conditions 共zero stiffness transverse springs兲; however, the
bonded area contains arrays of small microdisbonds which
are modeled by finite transverse springs, which depend on
the total microdisbonded area.20
IV. INTERFACE AND LAYER PROPERTY
RECONSTRUCTION
The inverse algorithm was applied to reconstruct the set
of parameters 共3兲 and 共4兲 from the normal and oblique ex-
perimental spectra. For the Al/Al/Al system the imaginary
part of the complex interfacial spring corresponds to energy
loss due to ultrasonic scattering at the contact roughness on
the interfaces, and needs to be determined as a function of
the nominal pressure together with other parameters. Attenu-
ation in the aluminum layer is comparably low for both lon-
gitudinal and transverse waves and is set to be zero during
reconstruction. As an example, Fig. 10 shows typical experi-
mental 共points兲 and simulated 共lines兲 spectra after optimized
matching of the spring model with the experimental spectra.
Solid lines represent the spectrum calculated from the recon-
structed layer and interface properties, and the points are the
experimental data. The deviation between the experimental
and calculated spectra serves as an indication of the quality
of the reconstructed data. Both normal and oblique experi-
mental spectra are well represented by the calculated spec-
trum for all features, including the local minima in the ob-
lique spectra.
A summary of the reconstruction results of the bulk and
the interfacial properties versus applied nominal pressure is
given in Fig. 11. The results show expected trends; for ex-
ample, Fig. 11共a兲 demonstrates the increase of interfacial
normal and tangential springs with increasing pressure; how-
ever, the damping shown in Fig. 11共b兲 decreases rapidly with
FIG. 10. Comparison between experimental and calcu-
lated reflection spectra for the aluminum/aluminum/
aluminum system. Calculations 共solid lines兲 were per-
formed using reconstructed spring constants: 共a兲 normal
incidence, and 共b兲 oblique incidence 共38-deg incident
angle兲.
Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties 1431

pressure. This is due to reduction of the interface scattering
with flattening of the asperities with pressure. The ratio
K T⬘ /K N⬘ for the data in Fig. 11共a兲 has a value between 0.42–
0.56. These values are reasonably close to those obtained in
Refs. 9 and 23 共for extensive discussion of this ratio see Ref.
23兲. Reconstructed aluminum foil properties—velocity and
thickness—do not change with the pressure. We performed
direct measurements of the film thickness and shear and lon-
gitudinal velocities. Direct measurements are indicated in
Figs. 11共c兲 and 共d兲 by dashed lines. They are in good agree-
ment with the reconstructed properties shown by solid and
open points.
The bulk properties of the adhesive layer and the inter-
facial properties between the layer and the substrates were
reconstructed from the experimental normal and oblique re-
flection spectra in the bonded area 20 by 25 mm marked by
the dashed box in Fig. 8共a兲. As discussed in Sec. III B, the
normal reflectivity spectra Fig. 9共a兲 are not sensitive to small
environmental degradation, while the minima position for
the angle beam spectra 关Fig. 9共b兲兴 exhibit significant shift.
This is consistent with the model of water-filled microdis-
bonds at the interface20 共tens of nanometers thick disbonds兲.
We take in the reconstruction the normal spring K N ⫽⬁ 共con-
tinuity of normal stresses and displacements兲 while keeping
the K T spring as unknown. There are two reasons for this
decision: 共1兲 Due to low sensitivity of the experimental nor-
mal spectrum minimum to degradation, the reconstruction of
K N⬘ from these data is very susceptible to data scatter. 共2兲
Due to limited transducer bandwidth, we can easily observe
experimentally two minima for the oblique incidence in the
reflection spectra at adhesive bond and only one minimum
for the normal incidence 关Figs. 9共a兲 and 共b兲兴. As it was dis-
cussed in Sec. II B, from only one spectral minimum we
cannot separate the longitudinal modulus of the adhesive
from the normal K N interfacial spring.
1432 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003
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FIG. 11. Reconstructed properties for an Al layer be-
tween Al substrates under dry contact as function of the
applied nominal pressure: 共a兲 interfacial stiffness K N⬘ ,
K T⬘ ; 共b兲 imaginary parts of the normal and transverse
interfacial springs 共damping兲; 共c兲 longitudinal and shear
velocities; and 共d兲 thickness of the aluminum layer ob-
tained. Dashed lines in 共c兲 and 共d兲 are properties deter-
mined on this thin aluminum layer by independent di-
rect measurements.
As discussed in Ref. 20, we can neglect viscous losses
due to water accumulation at the interface. Also, the interfa-
cial microdisbonds are very small and flat; at these condi-
tions, in analogy with the results in Fig. 11共b兲 for the inter-
facial damping on a rough interface at higher pressure, it is
reasonable to assume that the interfacial scattering and ab-
sorption are very small and therefore we take the imaginary
part of the interfacial spring K T⬙ ⫽0. Attenuation in the adhe-
sive changes with degradation due to debonding of the knit
carrier fibers in the adhesive and ultrasonic scattering.30
Therefore, the attenuation for shear and longitudinal waves
in the adhesive is assumed unknown and to be reconstructed.
Experimentally we observe two easily measurable resonance
minima at oblique incidence 关Fig. 9共b兲兴; therefore, the K T
effect is separable from the adhesive bulk properties, and the
interfacial transverse spring is reconstructed from the oblique
spectrum.
An image of a reconstructed transverse interfacial spring
K T⬘ is shown in Fig. 8共b兲. High values of K T⬘ are shown by
white and low values by dark gray levels. Significant inho-
mogeneity is observed in the image with transition from high
to low spring area. This contrasts with the C-scan image Fig.
8共a兲, which exhibits no changes in the same area. The tran-
sition zone in Fig. 8共b兲 appears ‘‘mushy’’ with highly vari-
able transverse springs; this supports the water-filled micro-
disbond model20 共black points are noise兲. The ultrasonic
beam has about 5 mm diameter and thus averaged properties
are measured in this area.
The reconstructed data at the centerline 共at y⫽0) in the
reconstruction area are shown in Fig. 12. The bulk properties
共bulk and shear modulus, longitudinal and shear ultrasonic
attenuation, density and thickness兲 did not show change with
distance. This is expected since the samples stayed in the
environment for only a few days. The interfacial transverse
Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties

stiffness K T⬘ 关Fig. 12共a兲兴 shows a significant decrease as the
position approaches the right edge. Note that in this range K T⬘
has a similar order of magnitude as that for the dry contact
interface 关Fig. 11共a兲兴. In the line scan of the reconstructed K T⬘
shown in Fig. 12共a兲, we should distinguish three regions: 共1兲
The left region from the vertical dashed line ‘‘1’’ corresponds
to the ‘‘good bond’’ 共in the good bond area we cannot recon-
struct the interface anomalies by this method in the 5–15-
MHz frequency range兲. In this range the value of the spring
is between the threshold level of the spring reconstruction
sensitivity and K T⬘ ⫽⬁, which corresponds to the perfect
共welded兲 boundary conditions between the adhesive and the
substrates. The threshold level (K T⬘ ⬇3 * 1015 N/m3 ) was as-
sessed by the sensitivity simulation 关see also Ref. 20 and Fig.
2共b兲兴. At K T⬘ above the threshold level the ultrasonic reflec-
tion signature does not depend on the spring value. At K T⬘
below the threshold level, frequency minimum shift is de-
tectable with its decrease. Therefore, we depicted the recon-
structed values of the good bond spring constant to be at this
upper threshold level of the sensitivity 共this shows some con-
tinuity of the experimental data; however, it does not imply
that the actual spring constants are measured and have these
values兲. 共2兲 The middle transition region 共between the verti-
cal lines兲 corresponds to the mushy area in Fig. 8共b兲; it is
smoothed by the finite size of the transducer beam 共unsharp-
ness effect兲. 共3兲 From the right of the vertical dashed line
‘‘2’’ the bond is degraded.
V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
A method for determination of the set of acoustical, geo-
metrical, and interfacial properties of an isotropic layer em-
bedded between two known substrates was developed. The
properties include the layer density, elastic moduli, thickness,
and interfacial normal and transverse spring constants. Also,
either longitudinal and shear wave attenuations in the layer
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 114, No. 3, September 2003
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FIG. 12. Scan line of reconstructed properties of envi-
ronmentally degraded adhesive bond: 共a兲 transverse in-
terfacial stiffness 关horizontal solid line indicates the up-
per threshold level of the sensitivity to the K T⬘
reconstruction; the region from the left of the ‘‘1’’ ver-
tical dashed line correspond to the ‘‘good bond,’’ region
between the lines ‘‘1’’ and ‘‘2’’ corresponds to the
mushy area in Fig. 8共b兲兴; 共b兲 thickness; 共c兲 longitudinal
modulus (␭⫹2 ␮ ); 共d兲 shear modulus 共␮兲 of the adhe-
sive layer. The horizontal dashed lines in 共b兲, 共c兲, and
共d兲 indicate the trend of properties variation with dis-
tance.
or the imaginary parts of the interfacial springs, which ac-
count for the wave scattering at the interface, are determined.
In the reconstruction algorithm, the properties are combined
in the form of eight nondimensional parameters, which are
determined from reflection spectra at two incident angles:
normal and oblique.
It was shown that the layer bulk and interface properties
could be separated if several resonance minima in the reflec-
tion spectra are measured. If only one of such minima is
recorded in both normal and oblique spectra, only effective
properties of the layer can be reconstructed 共those include
combinations of layer bulk and interfacial properties兲. It was
found that the attenuation in the layer and imaginary parts of
the spring constants cannot be decoupled. It is suggested to
select only two attenuation variables as unknown while the
other two should be considered constant during reconstruc-
tion.
The algorithm was validated by specially designed ex-
periments where layer properties were measured indepen-
dently for comparison with the reconstructed values. One of
the experiments is done on an aluminum foil in dry contact
between two aluminum substrates. The attenuation in the foil
was taken to be zero while the imaginary parts in the inter-
facial springs were considered unknown. All eight param-
eters were reconstructed. The reconstructed layer properties
were found to be in good agreement with Al foil properties.
Also, the interfacial spring ratio K T⬘ /K N⬘ was found to be
close to that in the literature.9,23 The second experiment was
for environmentally degraded adhesive bonds prepared such
that mainly interface properties were modified. The longitu-
dinal spectra were found to be weakly dependent on mea-
sured position in the slightly damaged bonded area, while the
oblique spectra varied significantly. Thus, for reconstruction
the longitudinal spring was set infinite and K T was assumed
to be unknown and to be determined from experiment. For
this case the attenuation in the adhesive layer was assumed
Baltazar et al.: Reconstruction of interface and layer properties 1433
 dominant and unknown, while the imaginary part of the K T
spring constant was taken to be zero. The reconstruction re-
sults for the adhesive show good agreement with indepen-
dently measured layer properties.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was partially sponsored by the Federal Avia-
tion Administration under Contract No. DTFA03-98-D-
00008, Delivery Order No. lA021 and performed by The
Nondestructive Evaluation Program at The Ohio State Uni-
versity as part of the Center for Aviation Systems Reliability
program through the Airworthiness Assurance Center of Ex-
cellence.
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