Acoustic Emission Testing

Detection of dynamic cracks in a material from the

generation of sound energy by its propagation

When a structure is subjected to an external pressure,

temperature, cracks inside the component release the
sound energy

Sound energy :Non audible and week energy waves

They propagate to the surface and are detected by

sensors

With the right equipment and setup, crack propagation

on the order of Pico meters (10-12 m) can be identified

Sources of AE

Initiation and Growth of cracks

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and

Slip and dislocation movements, melting, twinning,

phase transformations in metals

Matrix cracking and fiber breakage and debonding

APPLICATIONS
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Fracture Mechanics Study

Critical flaw size (ac) may be with in limit to start with

But it may propagate due to external loading

Hence the flaw size (ac) may go out of limit sometime

during the application, sudden failure occurs

AE Vs Other NDTs
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Two differences

The first difference pertains to the origin of the signal.

Instead of supplying energy to the object under
examination, AET simply listens for the energy
released by the object (Flaw)

The second difference is that AET detects the flaw only

when the flaw is alive.
Dynamic flaws only detected

DRAWBACKS
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AE systems can only qualitatively gauge how much

damage is contained in a structure

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Loud service environments which contribute
extraneous noise to the signals.
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For successful applications, signal
discrimination and noise reduction are crucial.

Activity of a flaw in Structural Loading

Kaiser Effect
Discontinuities created in a
material do not expand or move
until that former stress is
exceeded

Felicity Effect

Felicity Effect
At some point, the applied load
is high enough to cause
significant emissions even
though the previous max load
was not reached

Kaiser Effect

Noise
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Undesirable signals detected by the sensors

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Frictional sources
- (loose bolts or connectors)

Impact sources
- (rain, flying objects or wind-driven dust)

Mechanical vibrations

Noise Control
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Special sensors with electronic gates for noise

blocking

Place sensors as far away as possible from noise

sources

Electronic filtering

Wave Propagation

Equipment

Sensors / Transducer

30 kHz to 1 MHz

Intensity

AE Signals

Time (Sec)

AE Signal Features

AE Source Location Techniques

Linear Location Technique

Zonal Location Technique

Point Location