TY - JOUR A1 - Rus, J. A1 - Gustschin, A. A1 - Mooshofer, H. A1 - Grager, J.-C. A1 - Bente, Klaas A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Pfeiffer, F. A1 - Grosse, C. U. T1 - Qualitative comparison of non-destructive methods for inspection of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer laminates N2 - In the rapidly expanding composite industry, novel inspection methods have been developed in recent years. Particularly promising for air-coupled testing are cellular polypropylene transducers which offer better impedance matching to air than piezoelectric transducers. Furthermore, broadband transmitters (laser-induced ultrasound and thermoacoustic emitters) and receivers (optical microphones) have opened a completely new chapter for advanced contact-free ultra-sound inspection. X-ray dark-field radiography offers a different approach to detect porosity and microcracks, employing small angle X-ray scattering. These innovative ultrasonic and radiographic alternatives were evaluated in comparison with well-established inspection techniques. We applied thirteen different non-destructive methods to inspect the same specimen (a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer laminate with induced impact damage): air-coupled ultrasound testing (using piezoelectric transducers, broadband optical microphones, cellular polypropylene transducers, and a thermoa- coustic emitter), laser-induced ultrasound testing, ultrasonic immersion testing, phased array ultrasonic testing, optically excited lock-in thermography, and X-ray radiography (projectional absorption and dark-field, tomosynthesis, and micro-computed tomography). The inspection methods were qualitatively characterized by comparing the scan results. The conclusions are advantageous for a decision on the optimal method for certain testing constraints. KW - Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer KW - Air-coupled ultrasound KW - Optically excited lock-in thermography KW - X-ray micro-computed tomography KW - X-ray dark-field radiography PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-509473 DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998320931162 SN - 0021-9983 VL - 54 IS - 27 SP - 4325 EP - 4337 PB - SAGE AN - OPUS4-50947 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scherr, J. F. A1 - Kollofrath, J. A1 - Popovics, J. S. A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Grosse, C. U. T1 - Detection of Delaminations in Concrete Plates Using a Laser Ablation Impact Echo Technique N2 - This study investigates the non-destructive detection of delaminations in concrete plates using non-contact laser ablation, instead of the conventional hammer excitation, as part of the impact echo method. We performed tests on five concrete specimens of different sizes, two of which contained artificial delaminations. A range of steel ball hammers was used as reference impulse sources, the responses of which were compared with wave excitation generated by a 7 ns pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser with 150 mJ pulse energy. Signals were recorded by surface-mounted accelerometers and two contactless methods: microphones and a laser Doppler vibrometer. The laser generates frequencies across a broad range of frequencies (0 to 150 kHz) but with much less energy than the hammers' narrower frequency spectra; the laser pulse energy transferred into the specimen is 0.07 mJ, corresponding to about 0.5 ‰ of the impulse source energy. Because of this, the thick intact plates' characteristic thickness stretch resonance frequency can be reliably detected by the hammer excitations but not when using laser excitation. However, the laser can excite low-frequency flexural vibration modes over a shallow delamination at 3 cm depth. The low-frequency flexural vibration results are verified by numerical natural frequency analysis. KW - Concrete testing KW - Defect detection KW - Lamb waves KW - Impact echo KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Vibration PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-567932 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-022-00921-x SN - 0195-9298 VL - 42 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-56793 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bente, Klaas A1 - Rus, J. A1 - Mooshofer, H. A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Grosse, C.U. T1 - Broadband air-coupled ultrasound emitter and receiver enable simultaneous measurement of thickness and speed of sound in solids N2 - Air-coupled ultrasound sensors have advantages over contact ultrasound sensors when a sample should not become contaminated or influenced by the couplant or the measurement has to be a fast and automated inline process. Thereby, air-coupled transducers must emit high-energy pulses due to the low air-to-solid power transmission ratios (10−3 to 10−8). Currently used resonant transducers trade bandwidth—a prerequisite for material parameter analysis—against pulse energy. Here we show that a combination of a non-resonant ultrasound emitter and a non-resonant detector enables the generation and detection of pulses that are both high in amplitude (130 dB) and bandwidth (2 µs pulse width). We further show an initial application: the detection of reflections inside of a carbon fiber reinforced plastic plate with thicknesses between 1.7 mm and 10 mm. As the sensors work contact-free, the time of flight and the period of the in-plate reflections are independent parameters. Hence, a variation of ultrasound velocity is distinguishable from a variation of plate thickness and both properties are determined simultaneously. The sensor combination is likely to find numerous industrial applications necessitating high automation capacity and opens possibilities for air-coupled, single-side ultrasonic inspection. KW - Thermoacoustic emitter KW - Optical microphone KW - Air-coupled ultrasound KW - Local resonance KW - Thickness measurement KW - Thickness resonance PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-569533 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/s23031379 VL - 23 IS - 3 SP - 1379 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-56953 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beutel, R. A1 - Reinhardt, H.-W. A1 - Grosse, C.U. A1 - Glaubitt, A. A1 - Krause, Martin A1 - Maierhofer, Christiane A1 - Algernon, Daniel A1 - Wiggenhauser, Herbert A1 - Schickert, M. T1 - Comparative performance tests and validation of NDT methods for concrete testing N2 - Validation of non-destructive testing methods is necessary to create a common basis where different systems can be compared and their applications and limitations be identified. This can be achieved through comparing the measurements taken by several systems used for a common diagnostic purpose under practical but controlled testing conditions. Well-designed small and large laboratory or field specimens promise such conditions. The special concrete specimen (LCS) at BAM was constructed for validation purposes, in particular, to be used for evaluating the performance of echo methods. The thickness of the specimen is varying and it contains carefully designed built-in faults, such as voids, honeycombs and tendon ducts with various degrees of grouting defects. Since the geometry and condition of the defects are known, it can be used to compare the performance of radar, ultrasonic, impact-echo. The research was conducted within the Research group FOR384, sponsored by the German Research Society DFG. KW - Performance demonstration KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Concrete KW - Radar KW - Ultrasound KW - Impact-echo PY - 2008 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-008-0037-1 SN - 0195-9298 SN - 1573-4862 VL - 27 IS - 1-3 SP - 59 EP - 65 PB - Plenum Press CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-17925 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -