A Welding Defect Inspection using an Ultrasound Excited Thermography

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In this paper, the applicability of an UET(ultrasound excited thermography) for a defect detection of the welded receptacle is described. An UET(ultrasound excited thermography) is a defect-selective and fast imaging tool for damage detection. A high power ultrasound-excited vibration energy with pulse durations of 280ms is injected into the outer surface of the welded receptacle made of Al material. An ultrasound vibration energy sent into the welded receptacle propagate inside the sample until they are converted into the heat in the vicinity of the defect. The injection of the ultrasound excited vibration energy results in heat generation so that the defect is turned into a local thermal wave transmitter. Its local heat emission is monitored by the thermal infrared camera. And they are processed by the image recording system. Measurement was performed on aluminum receptacle welded by using Nd:YAG laser. The observed thermal image revealed two area of defects along the welded seam.