• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.773-777
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• 2011

Conventional ultrasonic thickness measurement is to be considered as the assumption that the ultrasonic velocity is known. In actual applications the velocity is often not well known and access is often limited to one side. This paper aims at determining the ultrasonic velocity and thickness of plates with parallel or wedged surfaces using contact measurements made on one surface only. For wedged plates the thickness at one point and the wedge angle are determined. Equations are used for determining the ultrasonic velocity, thickness and wedge angle of the plate based on the times-of-flight measured by two contact transducers coupled to one surface. The time-of-flight of the obliquely reflected longitudinal wave echo was measured as a function of the separation between the two transducers. In addition, a simulation was made for comparing the experimental data and a FEM image. Experiments and simulations were performed on flat and wedged plates of aluminium materials; the calculated results for the unknown quantities are generally agreed with them to some degree.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2011

It is well known that stiffness of composites depends on layup sequence of CFRP(carbon fiber reinforced plastics) laminates because the layup of composite laminates influences their properties. Ultrasonic NDE of composite laminates is often based on the backwall echoes of the sample. A pair of such transducers was mounted in a holder in a nose-to-nose fashion to be used as a scanning probe on composites. Miniature potted angle beam transducers were used (Rayleigh waves in steel) on solid laminates of composites. Experiments were performed to understand the behavior of the transducers and the nature of the waves generated in the composite (mode, wave speed, angle of refraction). C-scan images of flaws and impact damage were then produced by combining the pitch-catch probe with a portable manual scanner known as the Generic Scanner ("GenScan"). The pitch-catch signal was found to be more sensitive than normal incidence backwall echo of longitudinal wave to fiber orientation of the CFRP composites, including low level porosity, ply waviness, and cracks. Therefore, it is found that the experimentally Rayleigh wave variation of pitch-catch ultrasonic signal was consistent with numerical results and one-side ultrasonic measurement might be very useful to detect the defects.