Prediction of residual fatigue life using nonlinear ultrasound

Prediction of fatigue life of components during service is an on-going and unsolved challenge for the NDT and structural health monitoring community. It has been demonstrated by a number of researchers that nonlinear guided waves or the acoustic nonlinear signature of fatigued cracked material provides clear signs of the progressive fatigue damage in the material, unlike linear guided waves. However, even with nonlinear acoustic-ultrasound methods there is a necessity to compare the current nonlinear feature to a previously measured cracked material state to assess the absolute residual fatigue life. In this paper, a new procedure based on the measurement of the second-order acoustic nonlinearity is presented which is able to assess the fatigue life of a metallic component without the need of a baseline. The Nazarov-Sutin crack nonlinearity equation and the Paris law are combined in order to obtain an analytical solution able to evaluate the theoretical second-order quadratic nonlinear parameters as a function of the crack growth and fatigue life that evolve during cyclic loading in metals. The model makes the assumption that the crack surface topology has variable geometrical parameters. The method was tested on aluminum alloy specimens AA2024-T351, containing fatigue fracture of different sizes, and excellent correlation was obtained between the theoretical and measured second-order nonlinear parameter. Then, it was demonstrated clearly that by measuring the nonlinear parameters it is possible to estimate crack size and fatigue life. Finally, advantages and limitations of the procedure are discussed.