Temperature Dependence of Ultrasonic Longitudinal Guided Wave Propagation in Long Range Steel Strands

Ultrasonic guided wave inspection is an effective non-destructive testing method which can be used for stress level evaluation in steel strands.Unfortunately the propagation velocity of ultrasonic guided waves changes due to temperature shift making the prestress measurement of steel strands inaccurate and even sometimes impossible.In the course of solving the problem,this paper reports on quantitative research on the temperature dependence of ultrasonic longitudinal guided wave propagation in long range steel strands.In order to achieve the generation and reception of a chosen longitudinal mode in a steel strand with a helical shaped surface,a new type of magnetostrictive transducer was developed,characterized by a group of thin clips and three identical permanent magnets.Excitation and reception of ultrasonic guided waves in a steel strand were performed experimentally.Experimental results shows that in the temperature range from-4 ℃ to 34 ℃,the propagation velocity of the L（0,1） mode at 160 kHz linearly decreased with increasing temperature and its temperature dependent coefficient was 0.90（m·s-1 ·（℃）-1） which is very close to the theoretical prediction.The effect of dimension deviation between the helical and center wires and the effect of the thermal expansion of the steel strand on ultrasonic longitudinal guided wave propagation were also analyzed.It was found that these effects could be ignored compared with the change in the material mechanical properties of the steel strands due to temperature shift.It was also observed that the longitudinal guided wave mode was somewhat more sensitive to temperature changes compared with conventional ultrasonic waves theoretically.Therefore,it is considered that the temperature effect on ultrasonic longitudinal guided wave propagation in order to improve the accuracy of stress measurement in prestressed steel strands.Quantitative research on the temperature dependence of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in steel strands provides an important basis for the compensation of temperature effects in stress measurement in steel strands by using ultrasonic guided wave inspection.

Modeling the optimal compensation capacitance of a giant magnetostrictive ultrasonic transducer with a loosely-coupled contactless power transfer system

The giant magnetostrictive rotary ultrasonic processing system(GMUPS)with a loosely-coupled contactless power transfer(LCCPT)has emerged as a high-performance technique for the processing of hard and brittle materials,owing to its high power density.A capacitive compensation is required to achieve the highest energy efficiency of GMUPS to provide sufficient vibration amplitude when it works in the resonance state.In this study,an accurate model of the optimal compensation capacitance is derived from a new electromechanical equivalent circuit model of the GMUPS with LCCPT,which consists of an equivalent mechanical circuit and an electrical circuit.The phase lag angle between the mechanical and electrical circuits is established,taking into account the non-negligible loss in energy conversion of giant magnetostrictive material at ultrasonic frequency.The change of system impedance characteristics and the effectiveness of the system compensation method under load are analyzed.Both idle vibration experiments and machining tests are conducted to verify the developed model.The results show that the GMUPS with optimal compensation capacitance can achieve the maximum idle vibration amplitude and smallest cutting force.In addition,the effects of magnetic conductive material and driving voltages on the phase lag angle are also evaluated.

Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of in situ TiB_2/Al composites under high-intensity ultrasound

Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of in situ TiB2/A1 composites fabricated with exothermic reaction process under high-intensity ultra- sound produced by the magnetostrictive transducer were investigated. In this method, the microstructure and grain refining performance of the TiB2/A1 composites were characterized by optical morphology （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy-dispersive spec- trometer （EDS）, and X-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis. Microstructural observations show a decreasing trend in the grain size of the composites due to the ultrasound and the content of TiB2 particles in the composites. Compared with the process without ultrasound, the morphology and ag- glomeration of TiB2 particles are improved by high-in- tensity ultrasound. Meanwhile, it is proposed that the formation of TiBz particles occurs via the transformation from TiA13, and at the optimal amount of the reactants, the conversion efficiency of TiA13 into TiB2 almost reaches up to 100 %. Finally, the effects of high-intensity ultrasound and TiB2 particles on the mechanical properties of the TiB2/A1 composites were also discussed.