Sizing of Disbonds at a Thin-Layer Substrate Interface from Spectral Peaks

Abstract An ultrasonic through transmission technique is used to inspect the interface of a thin layer and a substrate. An experiment is performed using a specimen constructed of a 0.040 inch (1.02 mm) polycarbonate layer bonded by an adhesive film to an aluminum plate. Circular flaws are induced with paper placed between the adhesive film and the polycarbonate layer to create disbonds. The flaws range in size from 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) to 0.067 inches (1.70 mm) in diameter. A through transmission ultrasonic inspection technique, which uses a flat transducer as a transmitter and a focused transducer as a receiver, is employed. Time signals from the receiving transducer are recorded for each flaw, transformed to the frequency domain by use of a fast Fourier transform (FFT), and are linearly deconvolved with the FFT of the time signals of the aluminum plate alone. The peaks of the resulting frequency response functions for each flaw predict the resonant frequencies of the flaws. The area of the thin layer above a disbond is modeled as a thin plate which is excited by the incident ultrasonic wave motion at its edges. The resonance peaks at the center of the plate are related to the size of the flaw. The principal result of the paper is that, based on the theory presented here, the size of the disbond can be obtained from measurements of the resonance peaks.