Structural adhesive joints have numerous applications in many fields of industry. The gradual deterioration of adhesive material over time causes a possibility of unexpected failure and the need for non-destructive testing of existing joints. The Lamb wave propagation method is one of the most promising techniques for the damage identification of such connections. The aim of this study was experimental and numerical research on the effects of the wave frequency on damage identification in a single-lap adhesive joint of steel plates. The ultrasonic waves were excited at one point of an analyzed specimen and then measured in a certain area of the joint. The recorded wave velocity signals were processed by the way of a root mean square (RMS) calculation, giving the actual position and geometry of defects. In addition to the visual assessment of damage maps, a statistical analysis was conducted. The influence of an excitation frequency value on the obtained visualizations was considered experimentally and numerically in the wide range for a single defect. Supplementary finite element method (FEM) calculations were performed for three additional damage variants. The results revealed some limitations of the proposed method. The main conclusion was that the effectiveness of measurements strongly depends on the chosen wave frequency value.

Wave Frequency Effects on Damage Imaging in Adhesive Joints Using Lamb Waves and RMS

Multi-frequency localized wave energy for delamination identification using laser ultrasonic guided wave.

Low-velocity impact damage detection and characterization in composite sandwich panels using infrared thermography

In this study, high-power ultrasonics has been used for non-contact nondestructive testing of composites. Air-coupled magnetostrictive ultrasonic transducers provide reasonable amplitudes of horn oscillations even if this type of ultrasonic stimulation is close to the idle mode. Four types of ultrasonic horns have been designed and manufactured in order to choose an optimal horn configuration. For each horn, the dependence of vibration amplitude on ultrasonic unit power has been found to exhibit a good match between the theoretical and experimental results. The resonance frequencies and amplitudes of oscillatory velocity were experimentally evaluated by using the technique of scanning laser vibrometry and modeled by means of the Autodesk Inventor software. An air-coupled magnetostrictive transducer, in conjunction with an optimized horn, has been used in the evaluation of impact damage in a graphite epoxy composite and detection of water and excessive epoxy adhesive in an aviation honeycomb panel. It is expected that the technique of air-coupled ultrasonics may be useful for inspecting thin, fragile and hydrophilic materials.

Investigating vibration characteristics of magnetostrictive transducers for air-coupled ultrasonic NDT of composites

Efficient automated extraction of local defect resonance parameters in fiber reinforced polymers using data compression and iterative amplitude thresholding

Sachin Pawar

Papers

Ultrasonic spectroscopic analysis of impact damage in composites by using laser vibrometry