TY - JOUR A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Álvarez-Arenas, Tomás Gómez T1 - Guest Editorial: Special Section on Air-Coupled Ultrasound N2 - Air-coupled ultrasound is a challenging field dominated by the drastic impedance mismatch between air and all condensed matter, the low ultrasound velocity in the air, and the rapidly increasing attenuation with frequency. The seven articles included in this special section showcase the diversity of current research on air-coupled ultrasound. All contributions in this special section are application-oriented, demonstrating the readiness of air-coupled ultrasound technologies to address real-world challenges. Whether it’s ensuring food safety, supporting heritage conservation, optimizing industrial inspection, or enabling in-field biological measurements, the practical relevance of these studies makes this section particularly valuable for both researchers and industry professionals. KW - Air-coupled ultrasound KW - Transducers KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655041 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/OJUFFC.2026.3656857 SN - 2694-0884 VL - 6 SP - 1 EP - 2 PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) AN - OPUS4-65504 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nicolicea, Alberto A1 - Oliveros-Mata, E. S. A1 - Makarov, D. A1 - Melzer, Michael A1 - Pelkner, Matthias T1 - Flexible anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors for novel eddy current testing applications N2 - The standard method for eddy current testing (ET) of conductive materials relies on using rigid coils. In recent years magnetoresistive (MR) sensors in combination with an excitation wire have become a promising candidate for this application since it would increase the spatial resolution. New developments in flexible electronics have enabled the production of flexible sensors with the novel capability of scanning samples in conformal contact with the surface. In this article flexible anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors were used in combination with a thin induction wire to perform eddy current testing of a curved aluminum sample with several defects imprinted on its surface. To benchmark the performance of this new method, a flat sample with reference defects of various dimensions was also scanned using flexible AMR sensors, inductive coils and rigid giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors. The results show that this new method of using flexible magnetic field sensors coupled with an excitation wire can easily be applied to the scanning of curved samples, while in the benchmark test employing the flat sample, the performance is not far behind more conventional techniques, with defects with depths down to 30 μm and widths down to 400 μm being detectable with an SNR of 3 (signal magnitude) and 8 (signal phase shift) at the excitation frequency of 50 kHz, and defects with depths down to 30 μm and widths down to 600 μm being detectable with an SNR of 10 (signal magnitude) and 17 (signal phase shift) at 260 kHz. KW - Magnetic field sensors KW - Flexible magnetic field sensors KW - Flexible electronics KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Eddy current testing KW - Thin film sensor fabrication KW - Defect detection KW - Magnetism PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-634325 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2025.117340 SN - 1873-412X VL - 253, Part A SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-63432 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Rooch, Ludwig A1 - Hassenstein, Christian A1 - Ziegler, Mathias ED - Sakagami, T. ED - Inoue, H. T1 - Total Focusing in the Virtual Wave Domain: 3D Defect Reconstruction Using Spatially Structured Laser Heating N2 - Classical active thermographic testing of industrial goods has mostly been limited to generating 2D defect maps. While for surface or near-surface defect detection, this is a desired result, for deeply buried defects, a 3D reconstruction of the defect geometry is coveted. This general trend can also be well observed in widely used NDT methods (radiography, ultrasonic testing), where the progression from 2D to 3D reconstruction methods has already made profound progress (CT, UT phased array transducers). Achieving a fully 3D defect reconstruction in active thermographic testing suffers from the diffusive nature of thermal processes. One possible solution to deal with thermal diffusion is the application of the virtual-wave concept, which, by solving an inverse problem, allows the diffusiveness to be extracted from the thermographic data in the post-processing stage. What is left follows propagating-wave physics, enabling the usage of well-known algorithms from ultrasonic testing. In this work, we present our progress in the 3D reconstruction of deeply buried defects using spatially structured laser heating in conjunction with applying the well-known total focusing method (TFM) in the virtual-wave domain. T2 - 18th International Workshop on Advanced Infrared Technology and Applications (AITA 2025) CY - Kobe, Japan DA - 15.09.2025 KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Virtual wave concept KW - Laser thermography KW - Thermal thomography PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641463 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2025129054 VL - 129 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-64146 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yagdjian, H. A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Ziegler, Mathias A1 - Gurka, M. T1 - Application of the thermal shock response spectrum (TSRS) methodology to various forms of heat sources by pulse thermography and comparison by using a rotating line scan contour search algorithm N2 - In this paper, we propose a novel contour search algorithm (CSA) for image processing. Its efficacy is evaluated through a comparative analysis with established techniques such as Canny Edge and Snakes: Active contour models, utilizing infrared thermography (IRT) images. Based on the new CSA, we investigate the influence of different pulse shapes on the IRT post-processing methodology, particularly focusing on the thermal shock response spectrum (TSRS), using two different heat sources: xenon flash lamps and a laser. Moreover, this allows for a more precise quantitative comparison of the TSRS with existing IRT post-processing techniques, including pulse phase thermography and thermal signal reconstruction, concerning the detection of defects in composite materials, particularly in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer. A quantitative comparison was performed using the Tanimoto criterion and signal-to-noise ratio. A more detailed analysis is conducted to identify inherent limitations and potential benefits of the new TSRS methodology. We further investigate and experimentally confirm our previous finding on the qualitative correlation between the one-dimensional thermal N-layer model and test data from the TSRS optimization process for defect determination. This correlation can eliminate the time-consuming optimization step, making TSRS a more attractive alternative to common IRT methods and enhancing the quantitative description of defects. KW - Thermography KW - Non-destructive testing KW - NDT KW - Defect identification KW - Laser KW - Contour search PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-615056 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0232015 SN - 1089-7550 VL - 136 IS - 175101 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-61505 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Strangfeld, Christoph T1 - Fluidic Ultrasound Generation for Non‐Destructive Testing N2 - AbstractAir‐coupled ultrasonic testing (ACU) is a pioneering technique in non‐destructive testing (NDT). While contact testing and fluid immersion testing are standard methods in many applications, the adoption of ACU is progressing slowly, especially in the low ultrasonic frequency range. A main reason for this development is the difficulty of generating high amplitude ultrasonic bursts with equipment that is robust enough to be applied outside a laboratory environment. This paper presents the fluidic ultrasonic transducer as a solution to this challenge. This novel aeroacoustic source uses the flow instability of a sonic jet in a bistable fluidic switch to generate ultrasonic bursts up to 60 kHz with a mean peak pressure of 320 Pa. The robust design allows operation in adverse environments, independent of the operating fluid. Non‐contact through‐transmission experiments are conducted on four materials and compared with the results of conventional transducers. For the first time, it is shown that the novel fluidic ultrasonic transducer provides a suitable acoustic signal for NDT tasks and has potential of furthering the implementation of ACU in industrial applications.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved KW - Aeroacoustics KW - Air-coupled ultrasound KW - Fluidics KW - Harsh environment KW - Laser Doppler vibrometer KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-594273 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202311724 SN - 0935-9648 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-59427 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nicolicea, Alberto A1 - Oliveros-Mata, E. S. A1 - Zabila, Y. A1 - Makarov, D. A1 - Melzer, Michael A1 - Pelkner, Matthias T1 - Flexible anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors for novel magnetic flux leakage testing capabilities N2 - Rigid magnetic field sensors such as anisot Hall sensors have been used for years and have become industry standard for electromagnetic non-destructive testing (NDT). Recent technological developments in the field of flexible electronics allow for the fabrication of reshapeable magnetic field sensors on flexible substrates via thin-film deposition or printing. The magnetic properties of these sensors have comparable characteristics to industry-standard rigid magnetic field sensors, with the added ability of adapting to the surface of complex components and scanning in contact with the sample surface. This improves defect detectability and magnetic signal strength by minimizing the scanning lift-off (LO) distance. In this article flexible AMR sensors mounted on a rotative mechanical holder were used to scan a semi-circular ferromagnetic sample with 3 reference defects via magnetic flux leakage (MFL) testing, thus demonstrating the applicability of this type of sensors for the scanning of curved samples. In order to benchmark the performance of these sensors in comparison to industry standard rigid magnetic field sensors, a ferromagnetic sample with 10 reference defects of different depths was scanned employing flexible AMR and rigid GMR sensors. Defects with depths ranging from 110 μm up to 2240 μm were detected with an signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) of 2.7 up to 27.9 (for flexible AMR sensors) and 6.2 up to 72.3 (for rigid GMR sensors), respectively. A 2D magnetometer mapping of the sample with a spatial scanning step of 10 × 50 μm2 (flexible AMR) and 16 × 100 μm2 (rigid GMR) was obtained. The results show that this type of sensor can be used for high-resolution and high-detail mapping of defects on the surface of planar and non-planar ferromagnetic samples since the scanning lift-off distance is equal to the substrate thickness of 20 μm for in-contact scanning. The SNR comparison between flexible and rigid sensors shows that the performance of the flexible AMR sensors employed is not very far behind the performance of the rigid GMR sensors used. KW - Flexible magnetic field sensors KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Magnetic flux leakage KW - Thin film sensor fabrication KW - Defect detection PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-603931 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2024.103160 SN - 0963-8695 VL - 146 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-60393 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Timofeev, Juri A1 - Azari, H. A1 - Satyanarayana, R. T1 - Controlled Creating of Delaminations in Concrete for Nondestructive Testing N2 - Locating and sizing delaminations is a common inspection task in the maintenance and quality control of construction and rehabilitation. Their detection is an important area of application of nondestructive testing in civil engineering (NDT-CE). To improve this application, NDT test systems and test solutions must be compared, for which specimens containing well-defined delaminations are needed to serve as a reference. Currently, there are no widely accepted procedures available for creating such flaws locally and reproducibly. This study presents procedures for creating artificial delaminations repeatably and as close as possible to natural delaminations. To produce the discontinuities only substances were used which can occur in concrete components and do not affect the application of NDT-CE methods. Ultrasonic pulse-echo (UPE) was used to test the flaws in the specimens. The delaminations were created by applying expansive mortar in prepared through holes. Three specimens with two delaminations each were built and tested using UPE. KW - Concrete KW - Reference KW - Delamination KW - Test specimen KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-595201 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-023-01044-7 SN - 0195-9298 VL - 43 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-59520 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bahrami Eskandari, Ardalan A1 - Küttenbaum, Stefan T1 - NDT Data-Supported Structural Reassessments based on Regression Relations in Measuring Data Analysis N2 - Non-destructive Testing (NDT) provides valuable data about structural elements, supporting the assessment of existing infrastructures without incurring additional structural damage from inspections. Simultaneously, the uncertainty in measurement, which quantifies the quality of measurement results, plays a crucial role in decisions aimed at, e.g., optimizing maintenance strategies, rehabilitation works and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) implementations. The Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) framework has already been considered for non-destructive concrete testing. Regarding that, extensive measurements with sophisticated scopes need to be conducted by experts as an obligatory process. This study illustrates how NDT results describing the inner structure of a concrete element can effectively support the reassessment of bridges in operation. To achieve this, the study considers the various measurable positions of the resisting longitudinal tendons of a bridge structure to investigate the displacement change under dynamic service loads. Furthermore, this study aims to simplify and optimize existing NDT data analysis procedures by employing regression analysis, enabling the detection of structural features. This regression analysis yields a modifier for determining the correct depth of an object within the structural element. The method is validated through laboratory experiments, including the use of an ultrasonic measurement system. As a result, it provides unbiased and accurately measured results, while ensuring that the measurement data can remain uncorrelated. Major advantages include efficient computation, a wider scope, and avoiding redundant information about the measuring process. The findings demonstrate that employing the proposed NDT analysis method, with its enhanced practicability, can significantly augment the efficiency of NDT data-supported structural reassessments across various scenarios. T2 - EWSHM 2024 CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 10.06.2024 KW - Existing structures KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Practicality measurement KW - Bridge reassessment KW - Statistical analysis PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-604825 DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/29714 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-60482 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hirsch, Philipp Daniel A1 - Kunji Purayil, Sruthi Krishna A1 - Lecompagnon, Julien A1 - Pech May, Nelson Wilbur A1 - Ziegler, Mathias ED - Maldague, X. T1 - Robotic-Assisted 3D Scanning and Laser Thermography for Crack Inspection on Complex Components N2 - The integration of automation and robotics into non-destructive testing (NDT) marks a significant advancement in evaluating complex components. This paper introduces a novel approach using robotic-assisted laser thermography combined with automated 3D scanning to detect and analyze cracks in complex structures. The system uses an integrated line scanner with a robotic arm to capture high-resolution data, creating detailed 3D models for adaptive path planning and precise alignment correction. Laser thermography, based on localized heating and the "flying spot" approach, detects surfacenear cracks with high precision. Crack detection is achieved using the Canny algorithm optional on Fourier-transformed thermograms, offering robust results with minimal computation. This study highlights the potential of robotic-assisted 3D scanning and laser thermography as efficient and precise methods for crack inspection, advancing NDT technologies and ensuring the structural integrity of modern components. T2 - 17th International Conference on Quantitative InfraRed Thermography 2024 CY - Zagreb, Croatia DA - 01.07.2024 KW - Thermography KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Laser line KW - Robotic arm KW - Defect identification KW - Crack detection PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653809 DO - https://doi.org/10.21611/qirt-2024-078 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - QIRT Council AN - OPUS4-65380 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 -