Nondestructive Characterization and In-situ Monitoring of Corrosion Degradation by Backward Radiated Ultrasound

Since the degradation caused by corrosion is restricted to the surface of materials, conventional ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods based on ultrasonic bulk waves are not applicable to characterization of the corrosion degradation. To take care of this difficulty, a new nondestructive evaluation method that uses ultrasonic backward radiation has been proposed recently. This paper explores the potential of this newly developed method for nondestructive characterization and in-situ monitoring of corrosion degradation. Specifically, backward radiated ultrasounds from aged thermo-mechanically controlled process (TMCP) steel specimens by corrosion fatigue were measured and their characteristics were correlated to those of the aged specimens. The excellent correlation observed in the present study demonstrates the high potential of the backward radiated ultrasound as an effective tool for nondestructive characterization of corrosion degradation. In addition, the potential of the backward radiated ultrasound to in-situ monitoring of corrosion degradation is under current investigation.