Friday, May 31, 2013

The Main Principles Of Ultrasonic Inspection

By Rena Hudson


Ultra sonic testing utilizes high frequency energy of sound to take measurements and facilitate examinations. It can be used for flaw evaluation or detection, material characterization, dimensional measurements, and many more. Ultrasonic inspection can be an incredibly fast, precise and economical way of identifying and plotting discontinuities such as laminations and inclusions in a wide variety of finished and wrought metals. It can also be applied in plated and composite items.

Ultrasonic testing is utilized in the examination of high speed rotating engine parts together with groove welds involving full penetration. When one needs to find out the thickness of certain materials, this method can also be applied. The process uses multifaceted electronic equipment connected to a single or multiple transducers.

These transducers are capable of generating and detecting high-frequency sound waves transmitted through the material being tested. After transmission, the sound waves bounce back to calculate the thickness of the material or reveal defects. Since ultrasonic testing requires access to only one side of the specimen under test, it is in most cases applied in situations where radio graphic testing is not possible.

An archetypal ultrasonic testing system consists of a number of functional units like a receiver or pulsar, a transducer, and a display device. The pulsar is an electronic appliance that produces high voltage electrical pulses. It drives the transducer that in turn generates ultrasonic high frequency waves. The sound energy is then directed to the material under test and propagates inside it as a wave form.

A transducer produces the sound waves as well as receives them. Normally, it sends the waves either in form of an angle beam or straight beam. On the surface of the test material, a couplant is applied to transmit sound waves to the surface.It also prevent loss of the waves thus increasing the tests accuracy. Time taken to travel by the signal can be computed to give to the distance that is travels. Data concerning some of the requirements for completing the test can in some cases be gained from the signal.

Ultra sonic testing is quite a useful and versatile Non Destructive inspection method that is associated with several advantages. Notable merits include its ability to see through defects that typicalyy applied pressure and water test would not find out, like undershootings in the materials wall thickness.

More merits are seen in that every flaw that is found out is reproducible. In addition, no damage is dome to the material being tested, and it can be tested in an operative condition.This significantly decreases the workload. The method also takes place quickly hence no time is wasted, and is quite economical and accurate.

This method can be applied in other applications apart from flaw detection, for instance thickness measurement. Detailed images can be seen with it in case automated systems are applied.

This introduction above gives a simplified overview of ultrasonic inspection as an Non-Destructive Testing method. However, the real process is quite complicated, and one has to go through it in detail in order to perform an inspection with the help of ultrasonics.




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