Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation of Composite Components using Advanced Total Focusing Method

The application of ultrasonic phased array has been increasingly common in nondestructive testing and evaluation of composite components. An advanced post-processing imaging algorithm of ultrasonic array, termed total focusing method, is introduced to improve imaging quality and detection ability. Then, the experiment system is developed to capture and store the time domain signals from every transmitter-receiver pair. This imaging algorithm is implemented to detect standard phased array sample and shown to offer increased sensitivity to small defects and greater inspection coverage. Finally, experiments are carried out for composite components. The results show this approach has significant performance advantages for nondestructive testing of composite components.