TY - CONF A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Schadow, Florian A1 - Köppe, Enrico A1 - Dohse, Elmar ED - Chimenti, D. E. ED - Bond, L. J. T1 - Focusing of ferroelectret air-coupled ultrasound transducers T2 - 42nd Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation N2 - Air-coupled ultrasound has been applied increasingly as a non-destructive testing method for lightweight construction in recent years. It is particularly appropriate for composite materials being used in automotive and aviation industry. Air-coupled ultrasound transducers mostly consist of piezoelectric materials and matching layers. However, their fabrication is challenging and their signal-to-noise ratio often not sufficient for many testing requirements. To enhance the efficiency, air-coupled ultrasound transducers made of cellular polypropylene have been developed. Because of its small density and sound velocity, this piezoelectric ferroelectret matches the small acoustic impedance of air much better than matching layers applied in conventional transducers. In our contribution, we present two different methods of spherical focusing of ferroelectret transducers for the further enhancement of their performance in NDT applications. Measurements on carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) samples and on metal adhesive joints performed with commercially available focused air-coupled ultrasound transducers are compared to measurements executed with self-developed focused ferroelectret transducers. T2 - 42nd Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation CY - Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA DA - 26.07.2015 KW - Ferroelectret KW - Transducer KW - Air-coupled KW - Ultrasonic KW - Focusing PY - 2016 SP - 080001 PB - AIP Publishing CY - Melville, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-35955 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Dohse, Elmar A1 - Kreutzbruck, Marc A1 - Amos, J. M. ED - Chimenti, D.E. ED - Bond, L.J. ED - Thompson, D.O. T1 - Air-coupled ultrasonic testing of metal adhesively bonded joints using cellular polypropylene transducers T2 - 40th Annual review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation (Proceedings) N2 - Adhesively bonded aluminum components have been widely used in the aerospace industry for weight-efficient and damage-tolerant structures. Automated squirter jet immersion ultrasonic testing is a common inspection technique to assure the bond integrity of large, contoured assemblies. However, squirter jet inspection presents several limitations in scanning speed, related to water splash noise over protruding stiffeners and splash interference crosstalk in multi-channel inspection systems. Air-coupled ultrasonic testing has been evaluated as an alternative, possibly offering the benefits of increased throughput by enabling higher speeds, and eliminating the contamination concerns and maintenance issues of water couplant systems. Adhesive joints of multi-layer aluminum plates with artificial disbonds were inspected with novel air-coupled ultrasonic probes based on cellular polypropylene. Disbonds of various sizes were engineered in several multi-layer configurations and at various depths. Results were compared with squirter jet immersion and conventional piezoelectric transducer designs in terms of scan contrast, resolution and inspection time. T2 - 40th Annual review of progress in quantitative nondestructive evaluation CY - Baltimore, Maryland, USA DA - 21.07.2013 KW - Air-coupled KW - Ultrasonic KW - Metal bond KW - Ferroelectret PY - 2014 SN - 978-0-7354-1212-5 SN - 978-0-7354-1211-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4864857 SN - 0094-243X N1 - Serientitel: AIP conference proceedings – Series title: AIP conference proceedings VL - 1581 33A SP - 471 EP - 478 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-31362 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -