Experimental and numerical studies of nonlinear ultrasonic responses on plastic deformation in weld joints

The experimental measurements and numerical simulations are performed to study ultrasonic nonlinear responses from the plastic deformation in weld joints. The ultrasonic nonlinear signals are measured in the plastic deformed30Cr2Ni4 Mo V specimens, and the results show that the nonlinear parameter monotonically increases with the plastic strain, and that the variation of nonlinear parameter in the weld region is maximal compared with those in the heat-affected zone and base regions. Microscopic images relating to the microstructure evolution of the weld region are studied to reveal that the change of nonlinear parameter is mainly attributed to dislocation evolutions in the process of plastic deformation loading. Meanwhile, the finite element model is developed to investigate nonlinear behaviors of ultrasonic waves propagating in a plastic deformed material based on the nonlinear stress–strain constitutive relationship in a medium. Moreover, a pinned string model is adopted to simulate dislocation evolution during plastic damages. The simulation and experimental results show that they are in good consistency with each other, and reveal a rising acoustic nonlinearity due to the variations of dislocation length and density and the resulting stress concentration.

Assessment of cortical bone fatigue using coded nonlinear ultrasound

Bone fatigue accumulation is a factor leading to bone fracture,which is a progressive process of microdamage deteriorating under long-term and repeated stress.Since the microdamage of the early stage in bone is difficult to be investigated by linear ultrasound,the second harmonic generation method in nonlinear ultrasound technique is employed in this paper,which is proved to be more sensitive to microdamage.To solve the deficiency that the second harmonic component is easily submerged by noise in traditional nonlinear measurement,a weighted chirp coded sinusoidal signal was applied as the ultrasonic excitation,while pulse inversion is implemented at the receiving side.The effectiveness of this combination to improve the signal-to-noise ratio has been demonstrated by in vitro experiment.Progressive fatigue loading experiments were conducted on the cortical bone plate in vitro for microdamage generation.There was a significant increase in the slope of the acoustic nonlinearity parameter with the propagation distance(increased by 8%and 24%respectively)when the bone specimen was at a progressive level of microdamage.These results indicate that the coded nonlinear ultrasonic method might have the potential in diagnosing bone fatigue.

Assessment of Sensitization in AISI 304 Stainless Steel by Nonlinear Ultrasonic Method

A nonlinear ultrasonic technique has been developed to evaluate sensitization in Type 304 stainless steel. In order to achieve diferent degree of sensitization（DOS）, specimens have been subjected to heat treatment at 675℃ at varying soaking time（0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 h）. Heat treated specimens were subjected to intergranular corrosion tests as per ASTM standards A262 and G108. Sensitization in longer soaked material has been confirmed through ditch microstructures, cracks on the bend tested specimens and higher degree of sensitization. Nonlinear ultrasonic studies showed variation in the nonlinearity parameter with soaking time which also confirms sensitization. A good correlation was observed between the degree of sensitization measured by the electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation test and the ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter.This study clearly demonstrated that nonlinear ultrasonic technique can be used as a potential technique for non-destructive characterization of sensitization in austenitic stainless steel.

Numerical Analysis of the Nonlinear Interactions Between Lamb Waves and Microcracks in Plate

In this paper,three-dimensional finite-element modeling is conducted to investigate the nonlinear interactions between Lamb waves and microcracks.The simulation research focuses on the influence of microcrack orientation on the propagation direction of generated sum-frequency Lamb waves.The simulation results show that the resonant conditions based on classical nonlinear theory are valid for such interactions,leading to the generation of transmitted and reflected sum-frequency SO waves(SFSWs).Moreover,the propagation directions of these two SFSWs exhibit different trends with respect to the orientations of microcracks.The transmitted SFSW can be used to detect microcracks,whereas the reflected one can be used to measure their orientations.

Relationship between Dislocation Density in P91 Steel and Its Nonlinear Ultrasonic Parameter

P91 steel is an important bearing material used in nuclear power plants. The study of its mechanical degradation behavior is important for ensuring safe operation. The relationship between the dislocation density of P91 steel under different strains and the corresponding nonlinear ultrasonic parameter β was studied. The dislocation density of strained samples was estimated by X-ray diffraction. Nonlinear ultrasonic testing was conducted to evaluate β, showing that this value increased with increasing dislocation density induced by different tensile elongations. It was shown that the ultrasonic secondharmonic generation technique can effectively evaluate the degradation behavior of metallic materials, and the prediction of the residual life of bearing parts in service can be made based on β and the dislocation density.

A 3D Homogenized Model for Nonlinear Wave Interaction with Randomly Distributed Microcracks

This paper presents a 3D homogenized model able to simulate the nonlinear effects generated by the interaction of ultrasonic waves with microcracks.A hexahedral element with one horizontal elliptical crack is constructed as a reference model.The reference model is smeared to be orthotropic but with different moduli in tension and compression to account for stiffness asymmetry due to crack opening and closure.Different from the existing homogenized models that usually simplify the representative volume element as a homogeneous part and require only one constitutive model for the equivalent material of the whole structure,we assign the constitutive relationship of the same reference model to all the finite elements but with random principal material orientations to take randomly oriented microcracks into consideration.In this way,the randomness of distributed microcracks can be considered in the framework of continuum mechanics.In this manner,the experimentally observed nonlinear effects,such as the generation of both even and odd harmonics,can be reproduced.The developed model has been verified for a 3D bar and a 3D plate.Particularly,the influence of crack density on the amplitude of higher harmonics is analyzed.