Finite element investigation on the wave-particle interactions in ultrasonic inspection of SiCp/Al composites

Abstract While particulate-reinforced metal matrix composites are composed of two phase materials with dramatically different physical and mechanical properties, sound wave-particle interactions play an important role in their ultrasonic inspection tests. In the present work, we investigate the sound wave-particle interactions in silicon carbide (SiC) particle-reinforced aluminum (Al) matrix composites under the pulse-echo mode ultrasonic inspection by means of finite element simulations. Be consistent with experimentally observed real microstructures, the simulated SiC particles have polygon shapes and are randomly dispersed in the Al matrix. In particular, the sound wave-particle interactions are revealed, and their correlations with the A-scan signals are investigated. Furthermore, the effects of extrinsic pulse frequency and intrinsic SiC particle size on the ultrasonic inspection of the composites are addressed. Simulation results indicate that the interference of sound waves with heterogeneous SiC particles leads to more pronounced deflection, scattering and conversion of sound waves than the pure Al matrix, which in turn result in higher attenuation of sound waves in SiCp/Al composites. It is also found that the sound wave-particle interactions have a strong dependence on both pulse frequency and particle size.