Ultrasonic Equipment: Features and Usage

Ultrasonic equipments are non destructive testing machines that propagate ultrasonic waves in the object or material being tested. These equipments transmit very short ultrasonic pulse waves with center frequencies that range from 0.1 – 15 MHz and sometimes up to 50 MHz in the object being tested. The tests can range from the detection of internal flaws, part or coating thickness to checking certain acoustical properties of the object. One common example of the usage of ultrasonic equipments is ultrasonic thickness measurement that is widely used to monitor pipework corrosion. 

Ultrasonic Equipments

Although normally used for testing purposes on steel, metals and other alloys, these equipments can also be used on wood, concrete and composites (with lesser resolution as compared to metals).

The first known patent relating to the use of ultrasonic equipments for testing was filed by an American researcher named Dr. Floyd Firestone on May 27, 1940. The patent was subsequently granted on April 21, 1942. Afterwards, the usage of these equipments for testing purposes gradually kept on increasing, with different engineers and researchers periodically helping to improve the many limits of ultrasonic equipments. From 1942 till date, the usage of these equipments has kept on growing and today it can be said that these are one of the most widely used machines for material testing purposes in various industries.

Application areas of ultrasonic equipments

•     Steel and aluminum construction
•     Manufacturing sector
•     Metallurgy sector
•     Aerospace sector
•     Automotive industry
•     Marine industry

Ultrasonic Equipment

Features of ultrasonic equipments

•    These have high penetrating power, ensuring detection of flaws in even the deepest parts of the objects being tested
•    In a majority of cases, only one side of the object's surface needs to accessible to enable the detection of flaws in it.
•     Compared to other equipments, these provide much more accurate results
•    Apart from detecting flaws, these can also detect their size, orientation, shape etc.
•    These are easy to operate and also non hazardous for the operator or for people standing nearby
•    Ultrasonic equipments provide immediate results, thus enabling fast decision making
•    These equipments have a long service life and require minimal maintenance

Principles of usage of ultrasonic equipments

•     These equipments introduce a sound wave into the object being tested. The sound wave travels in a straight line and at a constant speed till it encounter a surface
•     When the sound wave encounters a surface, some of it's energy is reflected while some is transmitted
•     The amount of the energy being transmitted and reflected is detectable and gives information about the reflector's size and also its other attributes
•     Afterwards, through using various testing techniques such as normal beam and angle beam, contact and immersion etc., discontinuities ( if any) can be found in the object being tested