• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.31-39
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• 1993

It has not been performed to inspect the underclad cracking of nuclear pressure vessel in Korea since there is no code requirements for inspection. However, underclad cracks in nuclear pressure vessels have been reported since the early 1970s. The aim of this experiment is to find the suitable ultrasonic inspection techniques for underclad cracking. The various transducers, for example $70_{\backprime}$ refracted longitudinal wave, 50/70 multibeam, SLIC-40, SLIC-50, are used in this investigation. Experiments on prescreening blocks and a demonstration block under the same condition as in the nuclear power pressure vessels show that the $70_{\backprime}$ refracted longitudinal wave method is the best one for the length evaluation and also gives a good signal pattern for detection of the crack, while the 50/70 multibeam transducer is more effective for the detection of underclad cracking. On the other hand, the SLIC-50 transducer using M-SPOT(Satellite Pulse Observation Technique) and M-PET (Peak-Echo Technique) methods is the most effective one for the depth of underclad crack estimation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.362-367
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• 2005

Ultrasonic backward radiation profile is frequency-dependent when the incident region has deptional gradient of acoustical properties or multi-layers. Until now, we have measured the profiles of principal frequencies of an used transducers so that it was not easy to characterize the frequency dependence of the SAW(surface acoustic wave) from the backward radiation profile. We tried to measure the spectral backward radiation profiles using DFP(digital filer package) in a Lecroy DSO(digital storage oscilloscope). The measured spectral profiles showed that the steel specimen of #1200 surface treatment have 2% SAW velocity dispersion of the loaded case and the severly rusty steel specimen have the very big changes in the shape and pattern of the spectral profile. It is concluded that the spectral backward radiation profiles could be very effective tool to evaluate the frequency dependence of surface area.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.367-373
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• 2011

Guided waves inspection techniques that are different with inspection technique by bulk waves are widely used in pipe line evaluation due to advantages of long distance inspection. However, most of pipe lines at industrial fields are buried and/or coated. In this case, due to the attenuation effect from soil and/or coating material, there are a lot of difficulty on inspection by conventional ultrasonic technique. In this paper, guided waves propagating patterns are calculated with respect to excitation mode by Normal Mode Expansion(NME). Guided waves patterns based on excited by single transducer and guided wave focusing technique have employed to analyze focusing pattern on a pipe. A longitudinal mode and high order flexural modes are used with various number of transducers to determine sensitivity. Guided waves energy excited by multi transducer with focusing algorithm was successfully focused at a desired point.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 2002

Anisotropic elastic constants of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube materials were determined by a high temperature resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS). The resonant frequencies were measured using alumina wave-guides and wide band ultrasonic transducers in a small furnace. The rectangular parallelepiped specimens were fabricated along with the axial, radial and circumferential direction of the pressure tube. A nine elastic stiffness tensor for orthotropic symmetry was determined in the range of room temperature ${\sim}500^{\circ}C$. As the temperature increases, the elastic constant tensor, cij gradually decreases. Higher elastic constants along the transverse direction compared to those along the axial or radial direction are similar to the case of Young's modulus or shear modulus. A crossing of shear elastic constants along axial direction and radial direction was observed near $150^{\circ}C$. This fact corresponds to the crossing of c44 and c66 of single crystal zirconium.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.483-489
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• 2016

The typical methods used for inspecting ferromagnetic pipes include the ultrasonic testing (UT) contact method and the following non-contact methods: magnetic flux leakage (MFL), electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMAT), and remote field eddy current testing (RFECT). Among these methods, the RFECT method has the advantage of being able to establish a system smaller than the diameter of a pipe. However, the method has several disadvantages as well, including different sensitivities and difficult-to-repair coil sensors which comprise its array system. Therefore, a giant magneto-resistance (GMR) sensor was applied to address these issues. The GMR sensor is small, easy to replace, and has uniform sensitivity. In this experiment, the GMR sensor was used to measure remote field and defect signal characteristics (in the axial and radial directions) in a ferromagnetic pipe. These characteristics were measured in an effort to investigate standard defects at changing depths within a pipe. The results show that the experiment successfully demonstrated the applicability of the GMR sensor to RFECT signal detection in ferromagnetic pipe.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 1997

A method for designing a broadband transducer was investigated experimentally. Control of the resonance frequency of a Piezoelectric circular transducer with two pairs of electrodes was achieved by varying the inductance of external coil connected across the terminal of one pair of electrodes of transducer. The conductance curves of transducer in water were obtained as a function of the inductance value in mH of the coil used in the tuning. As the tuning inductance is increased in value, the resonance frequency is reduced toward the fundamental frequency of 50 kHz. This interesting result suggest that it is possible to produce a continuously tunable transducer covering a frequency range between 61.3 kHz and 121.7 kHz by varying the inductance value of external coil from 2.7 mH to 15.0 mH. One of other problems in the design and construction of such broadband transducer is the transducer efficiency, but this will be the subject of our future work.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.280-280
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• 2007

Lead oxide-based ferroelectrics are the most widely used materials for piezoelectric actuators, sensors and transducers due to their excellent piezoelectric properties. Considering lead toxicity, there is great interest in developing lead-free piezoelectric materials, which are biocompatible and environmentally friendlier. Recently alkali oxide materials, including sodium - potassium niobate (NKN), have been given attention in view of their ultrasonic application and also as promising candidates for piezoelectric lead-free system. However, it is difficult to sinter such NKN-based materials via conventional sintering process. In this reason, many researchers have investigated hot press, hot isostatic press or spark-plasma sintering of NKN-based ceramics. In this study, as candidates for lead-free piezoelectric materials, dense (Na,K,Li)(Nb,Sb)$O_3$ systems were developed by conventional sintering process. The microstructures and piezoelectric properties of the (Na,K,Li)(Nb,Sb)$O_3$ systems were investigated as a function of variable compositions. The excellent piezoelectric and electromechanical properties indicate that this system is potentially good candidate as lead-free material for a wide range of electro-mechanical transducer applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.481-489
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• 2000

A time-frequency analysis method was developed to analyze the dispersive waves caused by impact loads in structural members such as beams and plates. Stress waves generated by ball drop and pencil lead break were recorded by ultrasonic transducers and acoustic emission (AE) sensors. Wavelet transform (WT) using Gabor function was employed to analyze the dispersive waves in the time-frequency domain, and then to find the arrival time of the waves as a function of frequency. The measured group velocities in the beam and the plate were compared with the predictions based on the Timoshenko beam theory and Rayleigh-Lamb frequency equations, respectively. The agreements were found to be very good.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.388-394
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• 2010

In the present study, polyacetal bone mimics with circular cylindrical pores were used to investigate variations of speed of sound and attenuation coefficient with porosity and microarchitecture in bone. The speed of sound and attenuation coefficient of the 6 bone mimics with porosities from 0 % to 65.9 % were measured by a through-transmission method in water, using a pair of broadband, unfocused transducers with a diameter of 12.7 mm and a center frequency of 1.0 MHz. Independently of the structural properties of the bone mimics, the speed of sound decreased almost linearly with the increasing porosity. The attenuation coefficient measured at 1.0 MHz exhibited linear or nonlinear correlations with the porosity, depending on the structural properties of the bone mimics. These results are consistent with those previously published by other researchers using bone samples and mimics, and advances our understanding of the relationships of the ultrasonic parameters for the diagnosis of osteoporosis with the bone density and microarchitecture in human bones.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2011

In the present study, copper and nickel foams with an open-celled structure as trabecular-bone-mimicking phantoms were used to investigate the dependencies of group velocity and attenuation coefficient on structural properties such as trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) in trabecular bone. The group velocity and attenuation coefficient of the copper and nickel foams were measured by a through-transmission method in water, using a pair of broadband, unfocused transducers with a diameter of 12.7 mm and a center frequency of 1.0 MHz. The separation of the Biot's fast and slow waves was consistently observed in the ultrasonic signals transmitted through the copper and nickel foams. The group velocities of the copper and nickel foams showed highly positive correlations with Tb.Th and Tb.Sp. The attenuation coefficient of the copper foam showed a highly negative correlation with Tb.Th and Tb.Sp, whereas that of the nickle foam showed a highly positive correlation with Tb.Th and Tb.Sp. These results advance our understanding of those previously reported by other researchers using trabecular bone samples or phantoms.