A device in which the application of an electric field across the active element produces

mechanical deformation of the active element thereby generating ultrasonic vibrations

and vice versa. The transducer forms the actual core in all non-destructive ultrasonic
inspection procedures: The fact whether a workpiece can be inspected or not depends
upon them. In numerous cases ultrasonic inspection becomes only feasible by use of
transducers, which have appropriate acoustic properties. In any case the choice of the
correct transducer is decisive for the quality and the reliability of inspection results.
Ultrasonic transducers may be classified as follows: Piezoelectric, Electromagnetic,
Electrostatic, Magnetostrictive, Laser and other optical, Miscellaneous. Today,
ultrasonic transducers work almost exclusively according to the piezoelectric effect.
There are four fundamental transducer types:
(1) straight beam -, (2) angle beam -, (3) delay line -, (4) twin crystal transducers.
Depending on the application, transducers also differ with respect to the size of the
active piezoelectric elements, their frequency, bandwidth and the basic design. The
sound field characteristics of a transducer, which are expected under normal inspection
conditions, are generally derived from the diameter and the frequency of the
piezoelectric element.

1. Introduction

Today, within the field of non-destructive material testing with ultrasound many
standard tasks have been solved and do not require further development.
However, there are ever increasing test problems which can only be solved by
specially matched probes. For example, we can think of the testing of pipelines
for cracks and corrosion using fully automated pigs, as well as spot weld testing,
component testing at high temperatures, the measurement of bolt tension with
magnetic probes or the automatic testing of brake linings with special roller
probes.
New transducer materials are used when designing probes thus leading to new
and economical solutions to critical test tasks. Here we should mention polymer
and piezocomposite transducer materials which have considerable advantages
with regard to resolution, scan width and amplitude of the ultrasonic pulse.

2. Desirable Characteristics of Ultrasonic Transducers

With automatic plate

testing it is important to
employ economical
methods. Therefore, to
keep test time short
probes are needed
which cover a wide test
track at a specified flaw
detection level.
Polymer probes with
optimum element
diameters have proven
to be successful in
solving these tasks.
 For example, it is
required to detect a 5
mm diameter flat
bottom hole with a scan
width of at least 25 mm
at a flaw depth of
between 1.1 and 34 mm
on plates applied as raw
material for production
of electric resistance
Fig.1 : Sound beam profile of a 10 MHz polymer
welded tubes. A 10
probe with a 6x33 mm² element parallel to the lenght
MHz polymer probe
axis at 3 different depth z.
with element
dimensions of 6 x 33
mm² can be optimally
used. As shown in Fig.
1, this probe has a scan
width of 28 mm at -3
dB and a very low
amplitude modulation
of less than 1 dB over
the complete sound
beam width.

3. Historical Design Perspective

Another advantage, in addition to the almost rectangular sound beam profile, is

the good resolution power of this polymer probe compared to the conventional
probe with a ceramic element. The polymer probe shows a distinctly narrower
interface echo so that the flaw echo at a depth of 1.1 mm is clearly resolved. Its
signal-to-noise ratio is more than 20 dB compared to only less than 6 dB for the
ceramic probe (Fig. 2). Therefore, for an automatic test only the polymer probe
has a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio.

Fig. 2: Near resolution of a 10 MHz

paint brush probe with
a polymer (top) or a ceramic
(bottom) 6 x 33 mm² element
for a 5 mm flat bottom hole at a
depth of 1.1 mm (left)
and an interface echo without test
reflector (right)

4. Probes for Spot Weld Testing

Destructive test methods were used in the past for testing spot welds in the car
industry because these met the required demands for vehicle safety. Today, non-
 destructive testing with ultrasonics is becoming more and more accepted. It is
considerably more economical because the tested vehicles can be used further
and it has in the mean time achieved a high degree of reliability.
The method is based on the different attenuation of the ultrasonic beam in the
welding spot and on the more or less good reflection at the interfaces between
the welded plates. Relatively higher frequencies are required in order to obtain a
reliable indication about the quality of the spot weld by observing the echo
sequence. In practice, the highly damped 20 MHz polymer probes have been
proven and enable the required resolution of the intermediate echoes from the
individual weld layers. The probes are designed with an integrated water delay
line which is enclosed by a thin rubber membrane. This special construction
enables flexible probe coupling which is necessary due to the uneven weld spot.
13KB Fig. 3: Probe for spot weld testing with flexible coupling.
Probes with different element diameters are required to determine the diameter
of the weld spot. Typical values are in the range between 3 and 6 mm. In order
to achieve perfect evaluation of the echo display it is necessary that the probe
does not generate any interfering noise echoes which would otherwise disturb
the echo sequence coming from the weld spot. This is also a reason why
polymer probes are preferably applied in practice because they are well damped
and do not produce any radial modes which, with ceramic probes, would cause
interference indications.

5. Testing of Pipelines

With pipeline testing, the probes are used for thickness measurement in order to
detect possible corrosion points and also for crack detection in order to detect
cracks which occur due to mechanical stress. The paramount factor for both
applications is the prevention of incalculable damage to people and
environment. Today therefore, all large pipelines are tested by pigs which are
driven through at regular intervals and which measure possible degradation
using ultrasonics whereby the results are recorded on a data carrier which, after
the test run, are evaluated outside of the pipeline.
Extreme ambient conditions such as high pressure, high temperature and
aggressive mediums require a special probe design when testing pipelines. They
must be especially protected, in mechanical construction, against these
influences. At the same time they must be small because many of them must be
contained in a pig, having a size defined by the inner diameter of the pipeline, in
order to carry out a complete test fully covering the pipeline's circumference.
Fig. 4 shows various sizes which are designed for a maximum temperature of
125 °C and a pressure of up to 200 bar.
13KB Fig. 4: Various probes for pipeline testing

6. High Temperature Measurement

The capability to test hot parts with ultrasonics can greatly improve the
profitability of the test. It is often very costly to shut down an installation just to
carry out an ultrasonic test at a low temperature. In the same way, it is better to
directly test the welds on a prewarmed part in the hot condition instead of
waiting until the part has cooled down. In order to achieve this, delay lines made
of heat resistant material are used since a long time ago in front of conventional
 straight beam probes thus enabling tests to be carried out on hot parts. The delay
line can only be coupled to the surface for short periods when the temperature is
above 100 °C, it must be cooled off between these times because the probe itself
can only withstand temperatures up to about 60 °C. This is perhaps more
tolerable with thickness testing but considerably limits flaw testing. The short
coupling period is not sufficient for continuous flaw detection on a hot part.
Working together with the Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing
(BAM), angle beam probes and TR probes were developed which could
withstand continuous heating up to 250 °C, above this value the probe must be
cooled off after measurement. Maximum permissible contact temperature for
angle beam probes is about 350 °C; the delay line material can disintegrate at
higher temperatures. The delay line material of TR probes is a special ceramic
and can be used up to 800 °C.
Instead of using the normal "Vespel" as wedge material for angle beam probes, a
new polymer is applied which has a very low sound attenuation even at high
temperatures comparable to polystyrene. This new polymer is also used for dual
probes at medium temperatures which can be applied up to 350 °C. In both cases
a higher probe sensitivity results giving an extended measurement range.

7. Magnetic Probes

When measuring the mechanical stress on bolts using ultrasonics it is important

to achieve reproducible probe coupling because this influences the measurement
accuracy. In this case, probes with integrated magnets are successful. Fig. 5
shows a magnetic probe (5 MHz, 10 mm element) fixed on a bolt head together
with the Boltmike instrument for bolt stress measurement.
Magnetic probes also offer advantages for other NDT tasks, e.g. instrument
calibration or reporting with a stable coupled probe. for example, this is the case
with thickness measurement when measured values must be stored, or when
measurement positions are difficult to access and the operator has problems
keeping the probe coupling steady.
32KB Fig. 5: Bolt stress measurement with a magnetic probe

8. New Angle Beam Probes

For weld testing there are also new probes designed for tasks which were
difficult up until now. Well established angle beam probes having element sizes
of 8x9 or 20x22 mm² have their application limitations. Angle beam probes with
large elements are, due to their sharply focused sound beam, suitable for testing
at greater depths but owing to their size they cannot always be satisfactorily
coupled and positioned sufficiently close to the weld. These problems do not
occur with miniature angle beam probes suitable for testing thinner welds.
However, owing to the small probe element, the test sensitivity is strongly
reduced at larger depths.
20KB Fig. 6: New angle beam probes SWB with intermediate size between
MWB (small) and WB (large)
PROBE TYPE SWB WB
Element size [mm²] 14 x 14 20 x 22
Frequency [MHz] 2 or 5 2 or 4
 Contact face [mm²] 21 x 36 29 x 53
exit point [mm] 12 - 18 (depend. on angle) 27
Bandwidth [%] 50 40

9. Piezocomposite Material

Piezocomposite material is an important update of existing piezoceramic. R.

Newnham (1) at the Materials Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State
University, USA, has pioneered much of the basic development work. A mixture
of polymer material and piezoceramic is used to modify specific features of the
ceramic.
Several types of piezocomposites have been investigated but today the 1-3 type
piezocomposite is mostly used to build ultrasonic probes. Parallel orientated
piezoceramic rods are embedded into a polymer matrix as shown in Fig. 7. This
has the following advantages as opposed to the pure piezoelectric ceramic (refer
to table 2):
1. Improved electroacoustic efficiency
2. Reduced planar coupling
3. Low acoustic impedance
4. Mechanical flexibility

For more information access to an article in detailes about Composite

Transducers.

10. Conclusions

The above examples are only a small selection from the many special probes
which are matched to the specific task. They show that NDT with ultrasonics is
economical when optimum probes are used. The application of special
transducer element materials enables existing barriers to be overcome with
regard to resolution and sensitivity. These transducer materials are, thanks to
modern technology such as metallizing by high vacuum evaporation and micro-
mechanics, produced in reliable quality and at acceptable costs. Therefore, there
is no restriction using them for critical applications when necessary.
The early recognition of possible weak points, e.g. on pipelines or on flange
joints in the chemical industry, by using special ultrasonic probes generates
considerable economical and ecological advantages. The better the probe is
matched to the test task, the more reliable the early detection of possible
damages becomes before it is a threat to people and environment.

7. Literature

1. R.E. Newnham et al., Composite piezoelectric transducers, Mater. Eng., vol. 2,

p. 93 - 106 (1980)
2. Ultraschall-Prüfköpfe für 650 °C Dauertemperatur, H. Mrasek, D. Gohlke, K.
Matthies, E. Neumann, BAM, Berlin , NDT annual Conference 1996, 13. - 15.
May in Lindau. Conference Report