NDE Application of Air-Coupled Transducer for Surface Crack Detection

Abstract

According to the technical difficulties of the air-coupled piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer, 1-3 type piezoelectric composites and double matching layers structure are adopted in order to solve the acoustic impedance mismatch at the interface between the piezoelectric materials and air. The optimal design of the matching layer thickness for double matching layers structure air-coupled ultrasonic transducer is also completed through experiments. Based on this, 440 kHz flat-plate and focused air-coupled piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer are designed, fabricated and characterized. Finally, surface cracks are detected using the focused air-coupled piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer.