Recent developments in photoacoustic imaging and sensing for nondestructive testing and evaluation

Photoacoustic(PA)imaging has been widely used in biomedical research and preclinical studies during the past two decades.It has also been explored for nondestructive testing and evaluation(NDT/E)and for industrial applications.This paper describes the basic principles of PA technology for NDT/E and its applications in recent years.PA technology for NDT/E includes the use of a modulated continuous-wave laser and a pulsed laser for PA wave excitation,PA-generated ultrasonic waves,and all-optical PA wave excitation and detection.PA technology for NDT/E has demonstrated broad applications,including the imaging of railway cracks and defects,the imaging of Li metal batteries,the measurements of the porosity and Young’s modulus,the detection of defects and damage in silicon wafers,and a visualization of underdrawings in paintings.

Analytical model of tilted driver–pickup coils for eddy current nondestructive evaluation

A driver-pickup probe possesses better sensitivity and flexibility due to individual optimization of a coil.It is fre-quently observed in an eddy current(EC)array probe.In this work,a tilted non-coaxial driver-pickup probe above a multilayered conducting plate is analytically modeled with spatial transformation for eddy current nondestructive evalua-tion.Basically,the core of the formulation is to obtain the projection of magnetic vector potential(MVP)from the driver coil onto the vector along the tilted pickup coil,which is divided into two key steps.The first step is to make a projection of MVP along the pickup coil onto a horizontal plane,and the second one is to build the relationship between the pr,ojected MVP and the MVP along the driver coil.Afterwards,an analytical model for the case of a layered plate is established with the reflection and transmission theory of electromagnetic fields.The calculated values from the resulting model indicate good agreement with those from the finite element model(FEM)and experiments,which validates the developed analytical model.

High-precision nondestructive evaluation of a thermal barrier coating based on perovskite quantum dot anion exchange

Thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)in gas turbine engines are used in expressly harsh environments;thus,assessing TBC integrity status is critical for safety and reliability.However,traditional periodic maintenance involves visual inspections of the TBCs,requiring the gas turbine to be decommissioned and partially dismantled.Most importantly,tiny defects or internal damages that easily cause coating failure cannot be identified.In this work,a new nondestructive evaluation(NDE)technique of TBCs based on quantum dot(QD)anion exchange is first explored internationally.By exchanging anions between the Cl ions and the CsPbBr_(3) QDs,the degrees of salt corrosion of the TBCs are evaluated.The resultant NDE technique shows that the colour of the TBCs obviously changes from green to blue,accompanied by a large blueshift(~100 nm)of the photoluminescence(PL)peak position.In addition,the relationship between the PL peak position and coating thermophysical properties indicates that the precision of this NDE technique may easily identify theμm-level of the thermal growth oxide(TGO)changes inside the TBCs.

Terahertz Spectroscopic Characterization and Thickness Evaluation of Internal Delamination Defects in GFRP Composites

The use of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)for the nondestructive testing and evaluation(NDT&E)of materials and structural systems has attracted significant attention over the past two decades due to its superior spatial resolution and capabilities of detecting and characterizing defects and structural damage in non-conducting materials.In this study,the THz-TDS system is used to detect,localize and evaluate hidden multi-delamination defects(i.e.,a three-level multi-delamination system)in multilayered GFRP composite laminates.To obtain accurate results,a wavelet shrinkage de-noising algorithm is used to remove the noise from the measured time-of-flight(TOF)signals.The thickness and location of each delamination defect in the z-direction(i.e.,through-the-thickness direction)are calculated from the de-noised TOF signals considering the interaction between the pulsed THz waves and the different interfaces in the GFRP composite laminates.A comparison between the actual and the measured thickness values of the delamination defects before and after the wavelet shrinkage denoising process indicates that the latter provides better results with less than 3.712%relative error,while the relative error of the non-de-noised signals reaches 16.388%.Also,the power and absorbance levels of the THz waves at every interface with different refractive indices in the GFRP composite laminates are evaluated based on analytical and experimental approaches.The present study provides an adequate theoretical analysis that could help NDT&E specialists to estimate the maximum thickness of GFRP composite materials and/or structures with different interfaces that can be evaluated by the THz-TDS.Also,the accuracy of the obtained results highlights the capabilities of the THz-TDS for the NDT&E of multilayered GFRP composite laminates.

Piezoelectric Actuator/Sensor Wave Propagation Based Nondestructive Active Monitoring Method of Concrete Structures

In order to monitor the basic mechanical properties and interior damage of concrete structures,the piezoelectric actuator/sensor based wave propagation method was investigated experimentally in the laboratory using a specifically designed test setup.The energy attenuation of stress waves was measured by the relative index between the output voltage of sensors and the excitation voltage at the actuator.Based on the experimental results of concrete cube and cylinder specimens,the effect of excitation frequencies,excitation amplitude,wave propagation paths and the curing age on the output signals of sensors are evaluated.The results show that the relative voltage attenuation coefficient RVAC is an effective indicator for measuring the attenuation of stress waves through the interior of concrete.

Evaluation of fracture damage of SUS306 structural steel using ultrasonic testing

High frequency ultrasonic nondestructive testing was conducted using a direct contact method for SUS306 stainless steel treated by high temperature and fracture tensile tests. Reflected ultrasonic echoes were analyzed. The relationships between the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient, strength of backscattering wave and the elongation at break of the samples were obtained. The damages were evaluated by using these results together with the analysis of microstructure and mechanics of the tested material.

Enhanced air-coupled impact echo technique by phase analysis of signals from multiple sensors

This paper presents an air-coupled impact echo(IE)technique that relies on the phase spectrum of the collected data to find the frequencies corresponding to the reflections from delaminations.The proposed technique takes advantage of the fact that the IE compression wave is not a propagating wave,but it is the 1st order symmetrical(S1)mode Lamb wave at zero group velocity(S1-ZGV).Therefore,it searches the phase spectra of the data collected by multiple sensors to locate the frequency corresponding to the lowest phase difference.As a result,the technique reduces the effect of propagating waves,including the direct acoustic wave and ambient noise.It is named the Constant Phase IE(CPIE).The performance of the CPIE is experimentally compared with the regular amplitude spectrum-based IE technique and two other multisensor IE techniques.The CPIE shows a performance advantage,especially in a noisy environment.

基于激光超声的铝合金组织性能无损检测研究

目前对铝合金析出相和力学性能的检测主要采用扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)、万能试验机等方式,费时费力且属于破坏性检测。采用激光超声无损检测技术对Al-Cu-Mg铝合金进行检测,通过变分模态分解法(Variational Modal Decomposition,VMD)对时域下的激光超声信号进行降噪处理,得到激光超声信号的衰减系数和声速等特征值,同时采用扫描电镜、电子背散射衍射(EBSD)、静拉伸实验获得Al-Cu-Mg铝合金的析出相和力学性能,将激光超声信号特征值与Al-Cu-Mg铝合金的析出相和力学性能进行耦合。结果发现:激光超声信号特征值与Al-Cu-Mg铝合金的析出相、晶粒尺寸、屈服强度以及显微硬度有较好的相关性。这为Al-Cu-Mg铝合金的微观组织和力学性能快速无损检测提供了一种新方法。

Evaluation of Strength Performance of Finger-jointed Lumbers Using Three Kinds of Nondestructive Techniques

Resonance flexural vibration(Fast Fourier Transform, FFT), ultrasonic wave(Pundit) and stress wave(Metriguard) techniques were examined as means of evaluating the static modulus of elasticity (MOE) and predicting the modulus of rupture (MOR) of finger-jointed lumber specimens made with four kinds of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus. citriodora, E. exserta, E. grandis x E. urophylla and E. grandis). Dynamic MOE was calculated from frequency and time obtained from forced vibrations and sounds induced in the four species of finger-jointed specimens. It was found that correlation coefficients between density and static MOE and dynamic MOE were statistically significant at the 0.01 level. And it was also found that the three nondestructive techniques can provide rapid and accurate means to determine the MOE, and the dynamic MOE was more accurate to predict static MOE than density. But the correlation coefficient between dynamic MOE, static MOE and MOR were lower than results reported by other researchers for solid wood, and were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that the three nondestructive techniques are useful for evaluating the MOE, but not suitable for predicting the MOR of finger-jointed.

基于红外光谱结合化学计量学的美洲大蠊精制物CⅡ-3无损质量评价方法

目的:以美洲大蠊精制物CⅡ-3为研究对象,基于红外光谱结合化学计量学建立其品质无损的简易评价方法。方法:采用红外光谱法建立10批CⅡ-3样品的红外光谱,并进行基线矫正、纵坐标归一化和15点平滑等预处理方法优化光谱图;运用Origin 9.1软件对光谱数据进行表征和解析,建立10批CⅡ-3样品的指纹图谱,并进行相似度分析和主成分分析。结果:10批CⅡ-3样品红外光谱的官能团区主要特征峰为3300、2960、2930、1660、1630、1550、1450、1390 cm-1,指纹区主要特征峰为1240、1080、621、546 cm-1。不同批次CⅡ-3样品红外光谱的峰形、峰位和峰强相似,相关系数均在0.960以上。主成分分析结果显示10批CⅡ-3样品聚为一类。结论:该方法操作简单、专属性强、不破坏样品,可实现CⅡ-3样品的无损质量评价。

Surface-mounted bender elements for measuring horizontal shear wave velocity of soils

The bender element testing features its in-plane directivity, which allows using bender elements to measure the shear wave velocities in a wider range of in-plane configurations besides the standard tip-to-tip alignment. This paper proposed a novel bender element testing technique for measuring the horizontal shear wave velocity of soils, where the bender elements are surface- mounted and the axes of the source and receiver elements are parallel to each other. The preliminary tests performed on model ground of silica sand showed that, by properly determining the travel distance and time of the shear waves, the surface-mounted bender elements can perform as accurately as the conventional "tip-to-tip" configuration. Potentially, the present system provides a promising nondestructive tool for characterizing geomaterials and site conditions both in laboratory and in the fields.

Segmentation of Thermographic Sequences in Frequency Modulated Thermal Wave Imaging for NDE of GFRP

Image processing techniques have become highly essential to improve the data usefulness of the raw images obtained for infrared non-destructive evaluation(NDE).The identification of defective regions from a thermogram has been a common problem in the field of NDE.Image segmentation is one of the promising approaches to identify defective regions from thermogram.In the present work,segmentation approach based on clustering is employed.In this image patterns are organized into clusters or groups considering the relationship among these.The method involves finding the centroids of the regions and formation of clusters around each centroid.Thresholding is applied to improve accuracy in formation of clusters.Double thresholding method is adapted to retrieve the shape of defect and to improve the possible diagnosis capabilities of system for NDE applications.The proposed method is investigated with frequency modulated thermal wave imaging(FMTWI)over glass fiber reinforced polymers(GFRP).The GFRP sample consists of square shaped Teflon inserts of different dimensions placed at various depths.A comparative study of the proposed novel segmentation scheme and existing segmentation methods is conducted.

Characterization of surface damage of a solid plate under tensile loading using nonlinear Rayleigh waves

This letter reports experimental observation of a direct correlation between the acoustic nonlinearity parameter (NP) measured with nonlinear Rayleigh waves and the accumulation of plasticity damage in an AZ31 magnesium alloy plate specimen.Rayleigh waves are generated and detected with wedge transducers,and the NPs are measured at different stress levels.The results show that there is a significant increase in the NPs with monotonic tensile loads surpassing the material’s yielding stress.The research suggests an effective nondestructive evaluation method to track the surface damage in metals.

基于超声检测的变形管道维抢修评价方法

为了从定量分析的角度对在役管道进行评价,基于超声LCR波油气管道在线应力检测装置开发了油气管道在线应力状态无损测量技术,并围绕地质灾害变形管段建立了“应力初测评价-维抢修措施建议-应力复测评价-管道定期检测”的工程现场管道维抢修评价方法,并对该方法进行了现场工程试用。结果表明,该方法是评价地质灾害变形管段在线应力状态的有效手段,为变形管段安全裕度和修复质量的定量评价提供了依据,为变形管段的后期维护提供了技术支持。

钢丝绳无损检测信号处理算法的进展

电磁无损检测技术是实现钢丝绳状态监测的重要方法。从钢丝绳的电磁检测方法、信号预处理、特征提取和定性判断及定量分析等4方面对钢丝绳电磁检测技术进行综述。概述了钢丝绳电磁检测技术的研究现状和相关进展;探讨了不同检测技术对钢丝绳缺陷检测的影响;并从信号处理角度分析了常用的降噪方法,特征提取算法和定性及定量分析方法,论述了股波、振动等噪声对钢丝绳缺陷信号的影响及对应的降噪方法;在对比特征提取算法优缺点的基础上给出了损伤定性判定及定量分析的有效方法。最后,探讨了钢丝绳电磁检测技术的不足和未来发展方向。

基于频域衰减系数的Al-Cu-Mg铝合金激光超声评价

本文采用激光超声无损检测技术对Al Cu Mg铝合金进行检测,通过变分模态分解法(Variational Modal Decomposition,VMD)提取了激光超声信号的频域衰减系数,并通过扫面电镜(SEM)、电子背散射衍射(EBSD)、拉伸试验和显微硬度试验等实验方法对Al Cu Mg铝合金的微观组织和力学性能进行检测,将激光超声频域衰减系数和Al Cu Mg铝合金的微观组织和力学性能进行耦合。结果表明:衰减系数与析出相含量、平均晶粒尺寸力学性能均有一定的相关性,激光超声检测方法可以识别Al Cu Mg铝合金微观组织和力学性能变化趋势,这为Al Cu Mg铝合金微观组织和力学性能的非接触、快速无损评价提供了一个新方法。

聚乙烯构件减薄缺陷的太赫兹扫频可视化定量检测

聚乙烯(PE)构件在制备或使用过程中可能出现减薄缺陷,太赫兹检测是一种对于非金属结构检测具有显著优势的无损检测技术之一。本文研究0.22~0.33 THz频段太赫兹检测的PE构件亚表面减薄缺陷可视化定量检测关键技术,提出检测信号新特征量,结合Laplace算子、矩阵二值化及太赫兹纵向分辨率,对减薄缺陷平面及深度尺寸实施了定量评估。实验结果证明了太赫兹检测及所提方法对PE构件亚表面减薄缺陷成像及定量检测的有效性。

金属构件缺陷的脉冲涡流近-远场复合定量检测

鉴于脉冲涡流检测和脉冲远场涡流检测在金属构件损伤检测中的优势,提出一种非铁磁性金属构件缺陷的脉冲涡流近-远场复合定量检测探头。通过数值仿真,在系统分析电磁场能流密度的基础上,研究脉冲涡流近-远场检测信号特性及其对构件腐蚀减薄缺陷的响应灵敏度,剖析检测信号特征与缺陷尺寸参数间的关联规律。同时,搭建试验平台,进一步探究基于脉冲涡流近-远场复合定量检测的非铁磁性金属构件腐蚀减薄缺陷定量检测方法。仿真及试验结果表明,所提集成磁场直接和间接耦合分量的新探头构型可同时对金属构件腐蚀减薄缺陷实施脉冲涡流检测和脉冲远场涡流检测,增强了缺陷定量信息的有效拾取。

Nonlinear Electrical Impedance Tomography Method Using a Complete Electrode Model for the Characterization of Heterogeneous Domains

This paper presents an electrical impedance tomography(EIT)method using a partial-differential-equationconstrained optimization approach.The forward problem in the inversion framework is described by a complete electrodemodel(CEM),which seeks the electric potential within the domain and at surface electrodes considering the contact impedance between them.The finite element solution of the electric potential has been validated using a commercial code.The inverse medium problem for reconstructing the unknown electrical conductivity profile is formulated as an optimization problem constrained by the CEM.The method seeks the optimal solution of the domain’s electrical conductivity to minimize a Lagrangian functional consisting of a least-squares objective functional and a regularization term.Enforcing the stationarity of the Lagrangian leads to state,adjoint,and control problems,which constitute the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker(KKT)first-order optimality conditions.Subsequently,the electrical conductivity profile of the domain is iteratively updated by solving the KKT conditions in the reduced space of the control variable.Numerical results show that the relative error of the measured and calculated electric potentials after the inversion is less than 1%,demonstrating the successful reconstruction of heterogeneous electrical conductivity profiles using the proposed EIT method.This method thus represents an application framework for nondestructive evaluation of structures and geotechnical site characterization.

CRTSⅢ型板式无砟轨道层间伤损评定标准

针对CRTSⅢ型板式无砟轨道轨道板与自密实混凝土层间离缝伤损,开展了典型线路无砟轨道现场调研及测量数据统计分析,获取了运营条件下层间离缝分布情况及表观特征,并采用基于高频聚焦超声波反射的无损检测方法对典型区段无砟轨道开展了层间缺陷面积测试。结果表明:CRTSⅢ型板式无砟轨道层间离缝总体程度较轻,发展较慢;离缝长度100 mm以下、宽度1 mm以下、深度50 mm以下的轨道板分别占总数的87.4%、97.8%和96.4%。建议CRTSⅢ型板式无砟轨道层间离缝评定标准按离缝长度、宽度、深度进行两级分类。建议增加缺陷面积比作为伤损评定指标,缺陷面积比5%~10%为Ⅰ级伤损,缺陷面积比大于10%为Ⅱ级伤损。