MODULE 2

ULTRASONIC TESTING

1
Fundamentals of Ultrasonic Waves
• Sound energy above the audible frequency of 16,000 Hz is designated as ultrasonics.
• It is a form of mechanical energy that propagates through the material medium as a
stress wave by direct and intimate mass contacts.
• The propagation of these waves through the material medium is sustained and
controlled by the elastic properties of the medium.
• Also, in-homogeneities and discontinuities in the medium significantly modify and
modulate the propagation of these waves.

2
• Ultrasonics is a study of a form of mechanical energy, its propagation and its
interaction with the medium through which it propagates.
• It is a common experience that whenever a medium is disturbed by a force, the
particles of the medium are set into oscillation.
• The oscillation of the particles is either longitudinal or transverse or a combination of
both.
• In any of these types of oscillations, there is no bodily movement of the mass of the
medium as a whole; only the disturbance propagates.

3
Nature of sound waves
• All sound waves, whether audible or ultrasonic, are mechanical vibrations involving
movement of the medium in which they are travelling.
• Because of the relative movement of the particles in the medium, the physical
properties of the particles in the medium have to be taken into consideration.
• A sound wave may be transmitted through any material which behaves in an elastic
manner.
• Ultrasonic waves are classified on the basis of the mode of vibration of the particles
of the medium with respect to the direction of propagation of the waves, namely
longitudinal, transverse, surface and lamb waves.

4
Longitudinal waves
• Most common form of sound transmission
• Oscillations occur in the longitudinal direction
• In this type of ultrasonic wave, alternate compression and rarefaction zones are
produced by the vibration of particles parallel to the direction of the propagation of
the wave.
• Can propagate in solids, liquids and gas.

5
6
Transverse waves
• Here, the direction of particle displacement is at right angles or transverse to the
direction of propagation.
• For such a wave to travel through a material, it is necessary that each particle of the
material is strongly bound to its neighbors so that as one particle moves, it pulls its
neighbor with it, thus causing the ultrasonic energy to propagate through the
material with a velocity which is about half that of longitudinal velocity.
• For all practical purposes, transverse waves can only propagate in solids.

7
8
Surface waves
• Also called Rayleigh waves
• This type of waves can travel only along a surface
• In surface waves, particle vibration generally follows an elliptical orbit.
• Surface waves are not useful for testing purposes.
• However, they can bend around corners and thus be used for testing complicated
shapes. Only surface or near surface cracks or defects can be detected.

9
10
Lamb waves
• These waves are produced in thin metals whose thickness is comparable to the
wavelength.
• These waves are complex in nature; elastic properties, structure, dimensions of the
medium and cyclic frequency determine their propagation through a medium.
• These waves travel both symmetrically and asymmetrically with respect to the
neutral axis of the material medium.
• The velocity of these waves is influenced by the angle at which they enter the
material.

11
Behaviour of sound waves
• Reflection
• Refraction
• Mode conversion
• Diffraction
• Attenuation

12
Reflection
• When ultrasonic waves hit a surface at an angle, reflection occurs.
• Reflection follows two conditions:
• The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal, at the point of incidence, lie in
one plane.
• The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection

13
Refraction
• Sound waves incident obliquely on the boundary separating
two media, where the velocities of propagation are different,
undergo an abrupt change in direction.
• This phenomenon is known as refraction.
• The laws governing the phenomenon of sound refraction are
similar to those applicable to light waves.
• The incident ray, the normal to the refracting surface at the
point of incidence and the refracted ray lie in one plane
• The sine of the angle of incidence bears a constant ratio to
the sine of the angle of refraction, which is equivalent to
the ratio of the sound velocities in the media concerned.
This law is called Snell’s law.
14
Snell’s law

15
Mode Conversion
• When a sound wave strikes an interface at an angle
between two materials having different acoustic
impedances, some of its energy is converted into
modes of vibration other than the incident mode.
• If we consider a force F acting on the interface at an
angle, the force may be resolved into mutually
perpendicular directions, along the boundary and at
right angles to it.
• Under the action of these two components, the
medium is subjected to both compressional and
shear forces. This situation gives rise to longitudinal
as well as transverse modes of vibration.
16
Critical angle
• For any angle of incidence other than normal, every longitudinal wave has a reflected
and refracted component. Both reflected and refracted components contain
longitudinal and transverse waves.

17
• As the angle of incidence increases, the angle of
refraction for a longitudinal wave reaches 90°.
• The angle of incidence corresponding to a 90° angle of
refraction is called first critical angle.
• For further increase in the angle of incidence, the
longitudinal wave is totally reflected in medium and no
longitudinal wave exists in medium ; only the refracted
shear wave exists.
• If the angle of incidence is increased further, the angle
of incidence for which the angle of refraction for
transverse waves is 90° is called the second critical
angle for a transverse wave (or shear wave).
• Further increase in the angle of incidence results in
total reflection for both longitudinal and transverse
wave modes.
18
Diffraction
• Whenever sound waves encounter an obstacle, their direction of propagation
changes.
• This change of direction or departure from the original direction of propagation is
called diffraction.
• Diffraction takes place when the wavelength of sound is comparable to the
dimensions of the obstacle. If the dimension of the obstacle is large compared to the
wavelength, reflection takes place.
• Diffraction affects nondestructive testing adversely as it prevents the full utilization
of sound energy.
• The sound energy is lost in destructive interference as a result of diffraction

19
Attenuation
• As the ultrasonic beam impinges on a surface and propagates through the medium,
the energy of the beam gets divided into reflected, refracted, mode converted,
diffracted and scattered beams.
• Part of this energy gets absorbed. The loss of ultrasonic energy due to scattering and
absorption is referred to as attenuation.
• Scattering includes losses due to factors such as reflection, refraction and diffraction.
• Absorption includes loss due to conversion of sound energy into kinetic energy of
particles of the medium
• Attenuation increases with the increasing frequency of the ultrasonic wave.
• The scattering losses are strongly influenced by the in-homogeneities of the material
such as porosity, inclusions, coarse grains, cracks and agglomeration of elastically
different materials.
20
Sound Field
• The space around a source of sound over which its effect is felt.
• The characteristic parameters associated with sound at any point in its field are the
• Variation of density of the material through which it travels,
• Velocity or displacement of the particle of the medium
• The pressure variation that accompanies the propagation of sound.
• For the ultrasonic test of materials, the assessment of pressure variation in the field
is of significance.

21
Fresnel and Fraunhofer zones
• Ultrasonic waves are generated utilizing the piezoelectric effect in certain materials.
• These piezoelectric materials are usually in the form of plates, which can be
considered as an assembly of point sources of spherical waves.
• These waves travel in the test material with different amplitudes and phases and give
rise to diffraction maxima and minima immediately in front of the piezoelectric plate.
• This zone is called ‘Near zone’ or ‘Fresnel zone’.
• After the near zone the waves travel as a divergent beam.
• This zone is called ‘Far zone’ or ‘Fraunhofer zone’.

22
23
Piezoelectric Effect
• The word ‘piezo’ means pressure and piezoelectric effect implies pressure electricity.
• The piezoelectric crystals, when subjected to mechanical vibration, produce electrical
pulses in a perpendicular direction.
• Also, when these crystals are subjected to high frequency electrical pulses,
dimensional distortion is observed in a perpendicular direction.
• If a sound wave, with its alternating expansion and compression, impinges on the
piezoelectric plate, the latter produces an alternating voltage with the frequency of
the wave.
• Continuous impingement of electrical pulses results in mechanical vibration of the
crystal.
• Thus, a direct piezoelectric effect is used to receive ultrasound, while the reciprocal
effect is used for generating ultrasound. 24
• Some piezo-electric materials like quartz, tourmaline and rochell salt occur in nature.
• Most of the commercially used piezo-electric materials are synthetic compounds
such as ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, lithium sulfate, lead niobate, potassium
dihydrogen phosphate and polycrystalline ceramics.

• The temperature at which polarization is achieved in a synthetic piezoelectric

material is called ‘Curie temperature’.
25
• Above this temperature, the crystal loses its piezoelectric property.
Ultrasonic transducers
• Ultrasonic transducers (or probes or search units) are devices used to generate and
receive ultrasound.
• The transducers convert electrical energy into mechanical energy (vibration) and
vice-versa.
• A transducer essentially consists of a case, a piezoelectric element, backing material,
electrodes, connectors and protection for the piezoelectric element from mechanical
damage.

26
• A casing is the housing within which various elements are contained.
• It is metallic or molded plastic.

• When the piezoelectric element is subjected to electrical impulses, it vibrates or ‘rings ’

for a long time.
• For non-destructive testing, a long period of vibration is undesirable as it adversely
affects defect resolution capability.
• To prevent excessive ringing, highly attenuating materials (called backing materials) are
bonded to the back face of the piezoelectric element.
• Backing materials consist of a mixture of graphite, powdered metals (e.g. tungsten) and
a metal oxide of random grain size.

• Wear resistance of the crystal can be increased without sacrificing resolution and
sensitivity by the use of a thin layer of aluminum oxide or boron carbide.
27
Transducer types
• Normal beam transducers
• These transducers are used for contact testing and immersion testing.
• Transducers generate, transmit and receive longitudinal waves, normal to the test
surface.
• In the immersion type of testing, the piezoelectric element is made completely
waterproof and a grounding electrode is provided in the front face.

28
• Angle beam transducers
• These are contact type transducers that transmit and
receive longitudinal waves at an angle to the test
material surface.
• During the transmission of the wave, the longitudinal
wave is mode converted to a shear or surface wave on
entering the material.
• During reception, the shear or surface wave is mode
converted back to the longitudinal wave.
• The transducer is similar to a normal beam probe,
except that a wedge cut at an appropriate angle is
attached to the normal beam transducer.

29
• Dual element transducers
• In this type, the transmitter and receiver elements are separated with a cork-
divider.
• The divider prevents mixing of transmitted and received waves.

30
• Focused transducers
• Focused transducers are designed to
concentrate acoustic energy into a small area.
• This improves intensity, sensitivity and
resolution and also reduces the effect of
acoustic noise.
• An acoustic lens of predetermined focal length
is attached to a normal beam probe.
• The focusing could be cylindrical or spherical.
• While examining curved surfaces, cylindrical
focusing is used.
• Spherical focusing concentrates the sound beam
into a cone.
• Spherical focusing is preferred while examining
near surface defects. 31
Transducer characteristics
• Electro-mechanical coefficient
• Ratio of electrical energy appearing as mechanical energy to the applied electrical
energy.
• To achieve maximum conversion of energy, the crystal is operated at its resonance
frequency (the thickness of crystal is made a multiple of half wave length)
• Sensitivity
• Relationship between the amplitude of electrical voltage impinging on the crystal
and the magnitude of the ultrasonic signal produced.
• It determines the smallest defect size that can be detected
• Resolution
• Ability to separate signals from two discontinuities located at only slightly different
depths.
• A long pulse has poor resolving power. Short pulses are desirable for high 32
resolutions.
Ultrasonic Inspection Methods
• Pulse echo test method
• Here, short pulses of ultrasonic waves are
transmitted in the material under test.
• These pulses are reflected from discontinuities in
their path or from any boundary of the material.
• The reflected waves (or echoes) are received by the
same transducer and are displayed on the CRT,
which provides the following information.
• The relative size of the discontinuity in terms of
the amplitude of the signal displayed on the CRT
• The depth of the discontinuity on the CRT time
base scale, which is appropriately calibrated in
terms of known material thickness. 33
• Advantage
• Only one surface of the test object is required for testing and the method is
capable of providing size as well as depth location of the discontinuity.
• Limitation
• Material immediately below the transducer contact surface, within the near zone,
cannot be examine.

34
• Through transmission method
• Two transducers are used here, one as transmitter, the other as receiver.
• Short pulses of waves are transmitted into the material.
• The test method requires access to two nearly parallel surfaces of the test object.
• The receiver transducer is aligned properly with the transmitter transducer on the
opposite side of the test object to pick up the ultrasonic waves passing through the
material.
• The soundness or quality of the test material is evaluated in terms of energy lost as
the ultrasound travels through the material.
• A significant reduction in energy amplitude indicates a discontinuity.

35
• Advantage
• Better near surface resolution.
• Limitation
• Inability to locate the defect.
• Misalignment of the search unit can also create an interpretation problem.

36
• Resonance system
• This system makes use of the resonance phenomenon to measure material thickness
and to determine the bond quality of a test object.
• Continuous longitudinal waves are transmitted into the material and the wave
frequency is varied until standing waves are set up within the specimen, causing the
specimen to vibrate at greater amplitude.
• At resonance, the specimen thickness is equal to one half or multiples of a
wavelength.
• Resonance is detected by an indicator device and is presented on the CRT screen as a
‘pip.’

37
• Advantage
• Can be utilized when only one side of a material can be accessed.
• Limitation
• The accuracy of the test reduces as the material thickness increases.

38
Contact testing
• The transducer is kept in contact with the test object with a couplant like water, oil or
grease applied between the test surface and the transducer.
• The energy reflected from the boundary wall or the flaw is displayed on the CRT.
• This method is widely used for manual inspection.
• Straight as well as angle beam probes are used.
• A single transducer acts as transmitter as well as receiver for ultrasonic energy.
Sometimes two transducers are used for this.

39
Immersion testing
• Test specimen and the leak-proof transducer are immersed in a liquid, usually water.
• The liquid acts as a couplant.
• This method provides testing flexibility.
• The transducer can be moved under water at any desired angle.
• Further, the transducer does not contact the specimen and is therefore not subjected
to wear.
• Higher frequencies can be employed, enhancing defect detection efficiency.
• Immersion testing is employed for high speed and automatic scanning.

40
Immersion normal beam
pulse echo method

Immersion angle beam

pulse echo method

41
 Immersion through
transmission method
42
Ultrasonic Guided Waves
• Guided Wave Ultrasonics (GWUT) is a nondestructive examination technique that
projects sound waves along pipe walls in order to detect corrosion or other damage.
• This method is performed by placing a ring of transducers around a pipe.

43
• The sound waves emitted from these transducers travel down both directions of the
pipe.
• If they come in contact with corrosion or damage they will be reflected back towards
the transducers, which then collect the data automatically.
• Guided wave ultrasonics is useful for examining a long length of pipe quickly and
from a single location.
• This technique does not require contact with the pipe except for where the
transducer ring is fitted.
• Guided wave ultrasonics is an effective technique for inspecting pipes in difficult to
reach locations, such as those in high locations, behind walls, or under insulation.

44
• There are an infinite number of guided wave modes that exist for a pipe geometry,
and they can be generally grouped into torsional, longitudinal and flexural modes.
• The acoustic properties of these wave modes are a function of the pipe geometry,
the material and the frequency.
• Predicting these properties of the wave modes often relies on heavy mathematical
modeling.
• In the guided wave testing of pipelines, an array of low frequency transducers is
attached around the circumference of the pipe to generate an axially symmetric
wave that propagates along the pipe in both the forward and backward directions of
the transducer array.
• The equipment operates in a pulse-echo configuration where the array of
transducers is used for both the excitation and detection of the signals.
• At a location where there is a change of cross-section or a change in local stiffness of
the pipe, an echo is generated.
• Based on the arrival time of the echoes, and the predicted speed of the wave mode 45
at a particular frequency, the distance of a feature in relation to the position of the
transducer array can be accurately calculated.
• Advantages
• 100% coverage throughout the thickness of the structure
• Inspection over long distances from a single probe position
• Ability to inspect hidden and inaccessible regions of structures as well as
structures under water, coatings, insulation, and concrete
• Cost effectiveness because of inspection simplicity and speed
• Limitation
• Interpretation of data is highly operator dependent.
• Difficult to find small pitting defects.
• Not very effective at inspecting areas close to accessories.
• Can't find gradual wall loss.
• Needs good procedure

46
EMAT
• Electro-Magnetic Acoustic Transducer
• Ultrasonic Testing (UT) technique that generates sound in the component being
inspected rather than the transducer.
• Completely non-contact technique.
• EMAT works by generating ultrasonic waves into a test object using electromagnetic
induction with two interacting magnetic fields.

47
• A relatively high frequency field generated by electrical coils interacts with a low
frequency or static field generated by magnets to generate a Lorentz force in a manner
similar to an electric motor.
• This disturbance is transferred to the lattice of the material, producing an elastic wave.
• In a reciprocal process, the interaction of elastic waves in the presence of a magnetic
field induces currents in the receiving EMAT coil circuit.
• For ferromagnetic conductors, magnetostriction produces additional stresses that can
enhance the signals to much higher levels than could be obtained by the Lorentz force
alone.

48
• Advantages
• In-service inspection is possible.
• No couplant is needed, Dry inspection.
• Non-contact method. Proximity is preferred.
• High speed of inspection.
• Curvature of the work surface has less effect on the results.
• High temperature and low temperature inspection.
• Less sensitive to surface condition. It can inspect through coatings and are not
affected by pollutants, oxidation, or roughness.

49
Laser ultrasonics
• Uses lasers to generate and detect ultrasonic waves.
• It is a non-contact technique used to measure materials thickness, detect flaws and
carry out materials characterization.
• The basic components of a laser-ultrasonic system are
• A generation laser
• A detection laser
• A detector.

50
Generation of laser ultrasonics
• The generation lasers are short pulse and high peak power lasers.
• Common lasers used for ultrasound generation are solid state Q-Switched Nd:YAG
and gas lasers (CO2).
• The physical principle is of thermal expansion (also called thermo elastic regime) or
ablation.
• In the thermo elastic regime, the ultrasound is generated by the sudden thermal
expansion due to the heating of a tiny surface of the material by the laser pulse.
• If the laser power is sufficient to heat the surface above the material boiling point,
some material is evaporated (typically some nanometres) and ultrasound is
generated by the recoil effect of the expanding material evaporated.
• In the ablation regime, a plasma is often formed above the material surface and its
expansion can make a substantial contribution to the ultrasonic generation. 51
Assignment 1
• Laser Ultrasonics
• Optical detection of ultrasound.
• Measurement of in plane displacement and velocity.
• Laser shearography
• Explain the process.
• Advantages and limitations.
• Applications.

52