|
Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Best Practice : Ultrasonic Material Acoustic Testing System
Over the years, the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant has been actively involved in determining material quality by measuring the acoustic properties. Methods also evolved over the years from manual recording through resonance measurements to overlap techniques. However, the demand for a more accurate method of determining material quality led to the Ultrasonic Material Acoustic Testing (UMAT) system. Developed in 1992, this IBM PC-based workstation allows data to be analyzed more efficiently.
The UMAT system consists of a digital oscilloscope, a standard pulse/receiver, and a Pentium 90 PC. It runs in a LabWindows™/CVI environment and uses UMAT software. Written by the Y-12 researchers, UMAT software simplifies the process of making acoustic velocity measurements and calculating material properties. Unique features include automatic acquisition of two waveforms in the user’s chosen windows; cross-correlation techniques to determine delay; spreadsheet format to display material property calculations (Figure 2-3); the ability to correct couplant, instrumentation, and diffraction errors; and the ability to handle multiple transducer configurations that are accurate to less than 50 picoseconds.
Upgraded in 1995, the UMAT system can now handle many different types of sample and transducer configurations, and can automatically calculate velocities and material properties. Material property measurements have been performed over the temperature range from -40°C to 1000°C, and have been characterized on metals, composites, ceramics, elastomers, liquids and plastics. The UMAT system significantly increases the capabilities of characterizing materials more accurately.
Figure 2-3. Ultrasonic Material Acoustic Testing Spreadsheet Screen
For more information see the
Point of Contact for this survey.
|
