Ultrasonic Imaging of Thick Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers through Pulse-Compression-Based Phased Array
Source abstract
Abstract
The use of pulse-compression in ultrasonic non-destructive testing has assured, in various applications, a significant improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. In this work, the technique is combined with linear phased array to improve the sensitivity and resolution in the ultrasonic imaging of highly attenuating and scattering materials. A series of tests were conducted on a 60 mm thick carbon fiber reinforced polymer benchmark sample with known defects using a custom-made pulse-compression-based phased array system. Sector scan and total focusing method images of the sample were obtained with the developed system and were compared with those reconstructed by using a commercial pulse-echo phased array system. While an almost identical sensitivity was found in the near field, the pulse-compression-based system surpassed the standard one in the far-field producing a more accurate imaging of the deepest defects and of the backwall of the sample.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Ultrasonics and Acoustic Wave Propagation · Geophysical Methods and Applications · Non-Destructive Testing Techniques
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università di Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Modellistica, Elettronica e Sistemistica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata, Italy
SIEMENS AG Corporate Technology, 81739 Munich, Germany
Funding
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
References (40)
Show source-provided references
1. Non Destructive evaluation of carbon fiber reinforced polymers with ultrasonics and infrared thermography: An overview on historical steps and patents10.2174/1874465611205010048 ↗
2. An ultrasonic wheel-array sensor and its application to aerospace structures
3. Ultrasonic non-destructive testing of complex titanium/carbon fibre composite joints10.1016/j.ultras.2019.02.009 ↗
4. Wideband linear power amplifier for high-frequency ultrasonic coded excitation imaging10.1109/TUFFC.2012.2261 ↗
5. Contemporary ultrasonic signal processing approaches for nondestructive evaluation of multilayered structures10.1080/10589759.2011.577428 ↗
6. Modeling the radiation of ultrasonic phased-array transducers with Gaussian beams10.1109/TUFFC.2008.984 ↗
7. Nakahata, K., and Kono, N. (2012). 3-D modelings of an ultrasonic phased array transducer and its radiation properties in solid. Ultrasonic Waves, InTech.10.5772/29954 ↗
8. Ultrasonic arrays for non-destructive evaluation: A review10.1016/j.ndteint.2006.03.006 ↗
9. Schmerr, L.W. (2016). Fundamentals of Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation, Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-30463-2 ↗
10. Ultrasonic imaging using arrays10.1109/PROC.1979.11278 ↗
11. Coherent-array imaging using phased subarrays. Part I: Basic principles10.1109/TUFFC.2005.1397349 ↗
12. Real-time full matrix capture for ultrasonic non-destructive testing with acceleration of post-processing through graphic hardware10.1016/j.ndteint.2012.06.005 ↗
13. Szabo, T.L. (2004). Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging: Inside Out, Elsevier Academic Press.
14. Shung, K.K. (2015). Diagnostic Ultrasound: Imaging and Blood Flow Measurements, CRC Press.10.1201/b18323 ↗
15. Post-processing of the full matrix of ultrasonic transmit—receive array data for non-destructive evaluation10.1016/j.ndteint.2005.04.002 ↗
16. Defect detection using ultrasonic arrays: The multi-mode total focusing method10.1016/j.ndteint.2009.10.001 ↗
17. A comparison between ultrasonic array beamforming and super resolution imaging algorithms for non-destructive evaluation10.1016/j.ultras.2013.12.012 ↗
18. Use of modulated excitation signals in medical ultrasound. Part II: Design and performance for medical imaging applications10.1109/TUFFC.2005.1406546 ↗
19. The use of broadband acoustic transducers and pulse-compression techniques for air-coupled ultrasonic imaging10.1016/S0041-624X(00)00059-7 ↗
20. Coded waveforms for optimised air-coupled ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation10.1016/j.ultras.2014.03.007 ↗
21. Use of modulated excitation signals in medical ultrasound. Part I: Basic concepts and expected benefits10.1109/TUFFC.2005.1406545 ↗
22. A real-time chirp-coded imaging system with tissue attenuation compensation10.1016/j.ultras.2015.02.013 ↗
23. Contextual application of Pulse-Compression and Multi-frequency Distance-Gain Size analysis in ultrasonic inspection of forging10.1007/s10921-019-0612-7 ↗
24. Hutchins, D.A., Watson, R.L., Davis, L.A., Akanji, L., Billson, D.R., Burrascano, P., Laureti, S., and Ricci, M. (2020). Ultrasonic Propagation in Highly Attenuating Insulation Materials. Sensors, 20.10.3390/s20082285 ↗
25. Excitation waveform design for Lamb wave pulse compression10.1109/TUFFC.2015.2496292 ↗
26. A pulse coding and decoding strategy to perform Lamb wave inspections using simultaneously multiple actuators10.1016/j.ymssp.2016.12.014 ↗
27. Comparison of optimisation strategies for the improvement of depth detection capability of Pulse-Compression Thermography10.1080/17686733.2019.1603824 ↗
28. Mulaveesala, R., Arora, V., and Dua, G. (2020). Pulse compression favorable thermal wave imaging techniques for non-destructive testing and evaluation of materials. IEEE Sens. J.10.1109/JSEN.2020.3034823 ↗
29. On the application of an optimized Frequency-Phase Modulated waveform for enhanced infrared thermal wave radar imaging of composites10.1016/j.optlaseng.2020.106411 ↗
30. Comparison of time and frequency domain features’ immunity against lift-off in pulse-compression eddy current imaging10.1016/j.ndteint.2019.102152 ↗
31. Barton, D. (1975). Radars. Volume 3—Pulse Compression, Artech House, Inc.
32. Levanon, N., and Mozeson, E. (1975). Radar Signals, John Wiley & Sons.
33. Pulse compression techniques in ultrasonic non-destructive testing10.1016/0041-624X(76)90083-4 ↗
34. Chirp signal matching and signal power optimization in pulse-echo mode ultrasonic nondestructive testing10.1109/58.308500 ↗
35. An introduction to matched filters10.1109/TIT.1960.1057571 ↗
36. White, J.D.H., and Challis, R.E. (1992, January 10). A Golay sequencer based NDT system for highly attenuating materials. Proceedings of the IEE Colloquium on Non-Contacting and Remote NDT, London, UK.
37. Pulse compression in nondestructive testing applications: Reduction of near sidelobes exploiting reactance transformation10.1109/TCSI.2018.2862868 ↗
38. Burrascano, P., Callegari, S., Montisci, A., Ricci, M., and Versaci, M. (2014). Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation Systems: Industrial Application Issues, Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-10566-6 ↗
39. Azhari, H. (2010). Basics of Biomedical Ultrasound for Engineers, John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/9780470561478 ↗
40. You, K., Kim, S.H., and Choi, H. (2020). A Class-J Power Amplifier Implementation for Ultrasound Device Applications. Sensors, 20.10.3390/s20082273 ↗