WITCO - UT Presentation
WITCO - UT Presentation
WITCO - UT Presentation
EXAMINATION
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC TESTING
• Ultrasonic Inspection is a very useful and versatile NDT method. Some of the
advantages of ultrasonic inspection that are often cited include:
• The depth of penetration for flaw detection or measurement is superior to other NDT
methods.
• Only single-sided access is needed when the pulse-echo technique is used.
• It is highly accurate in determining reflector position and estimating size and shape.
• Minimal part preparation is required.
• Electronic equipment provides instantaneous results.
• Detailed images can be produced with automated systems.
• It has other uses, such as thickness measurement, in addition to flaw detection.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• As with all NDT methods, ultrasonic inspection also has its limitations, which
include:
• Surface must be accessible to transmit ultrasound.
• Skill and training is more extensive than with some other methods.
• It normally requires a coupling medium to promote the transfer of sound energy into the test
specimen.
• Materials that are rough, irregular in shape, very small, exceptionally thin or not
homogeneous are difficult to inspect.
• Cast iron and other coarse grained materials are difficult to inspect due to low sound
transmission and high signal noise.
• Linear defects oriented parallel to the sound beam may go undetected.
• Reference standards are required for both equipment calibration and the characterization of
flaws .
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• Wave Propagation
• Ultrasonic testing is based on time-varying deformations or vibrations in materials, which is
generally referred to as acoustics. All material substances are comprised of atoms, which may
be forced into vibrational motion about their equilibrium positions. Many different patterns of
vibrational motion exist at the atomic level, however, most are irrelevant to acoustics and
ultrasonic testing. Acoustics is focused on particles that contain many atoms that move in
unison to produce a mechanical wave. When a material is not stressed in tension or
compression beyond its elastic limit, its individual particles perform elastic oscillations.
When the particles of a medium are displaced from their equilibrium positions, internal
(electrostatic) restoration forces arise. It is these elastic restoring forces between particles,
combined with inertia of the particles, that leads to the oscillatory motions of the medium.
• In solids, sound waves can propagate in four principle modes that are based on the way the
particles oscillate. Sound can propagate as longitudinal waves, shear waves, surface waves,
and in thin materials as plate waves. Longitudinal and shear waves are the two modes of
propagation most widely used in ultrasonic testing.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• Longitudinal and shear Wave Propagation:
• In longitudinal waves, the oscillations occur in the longitudinal direction or the direction of
wave propagation. Since compressional and dilational forces are active in these waves, they
are also called pressure or compressional waves. They are also sometimes called density
waves because their particle density fluctuates as they move. Compression waves can be
generated in liquids, as well as solids because the energy travels through the atomic structure
by a series of comparison and expansion (rarefaction) movements.
• In the transverse or shear wave, the particles oscillate at a right angle or transverse to the
direction of propagation. Shear waves require an acoustically solid material for effective
propagation, and therefore, are not effectively propagated in materials such as liquids or
gasses. Shear waves are relatively weak when compared to longitudinal waves. In fact, shear
waves are usually generated in materials using some of the energy from longitudinal waves..
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• Longitudinal and shear Wave Propagation:
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• In ultrasonic testing, the shorter wavelength resulting from an increase in frequency will
usually provide for the detection of smaller discontinuities. This will be discussed more in
following sections.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• Wavelength and Defect Detection
• In ultrasonic testing, the inspector must make a decision about the frequency of the
transducer that will be used. As we noted that changing the frequency when the sound
velocity is fixed will result in a change in the wavelength of the sound. The wavelength of the
ultrasound used has a significant effect on the probability of detecting a discontinuity. A
general rule is that a discontinuity must be larger than one-half the wavelength to stand a
reasonable chance of being detected.
• Sensitivity and resolution are two terms that are often used in ultrasonic inspection to
describe a technique's ability to locate flaws. Sensitivity is the ability to locate small
discontinuities. Sensitivity generally increases with higher frequency (shorter wavelengths).
Resolution is the ability of the system to locate discontinuities that are close together within
the material or located near the part surface. Resolution also generally increases as the
frequency increases.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• Wavelength and Defect Detection
• The wave frequency can also affect the capability of an inspection in adverse ways.
Therefore, selecting the optimal inspection frequency often involves maintaining a balance
between the favorable and unfavorable results of the selection. Before selecting an inspection
frequency, the material's grain structure and thickness, and the discontinuity's type, size, and
probable location should be considered. As frequency increases, sound tends to scatter from
large or course grain structure and from small imperfections within a material. Cast materials
often have coarse grains and other sound scatters that require lower frequencies to be used for
evaluations of these products. Wrought and forged products with directional and refined
grain structure can usually be inspected with higher frequency transducers.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING
• Properties of material affect its speed of sound
• Sound does travel at different speeds in different materials. This is because the mass of the
atomic particles and the spring constants are different for different materials. The mass of the
particles is related to the density of the material, and the spring constant is related to the
elastic constants of a material. The general relationship between the speed of sound in a solid
and its density and elastic constants is given by the following equation:
IP
Angle Probe F
Material
F
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ULTRASONIC
TESTING