Detection and Characterisation of Surface Cracking using Scanning Laser Techniques

The use of lasers for generating and detecting ultrasound is becoming more established in non-destructive testing. However, there is still scope in developing the techniques to fully realise the benefits of non-contact measurements. One application is the detection of surface defects in metals; for example, rolling contact fatigue in rails, and surface cracking on billets or plates. We present measurements using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to generate surface ultrasonic waves and an interferometer to detect the surface displacement on the sample, and investigate the interaction of Rayleigh or Lamb waves with surface defects. Signal enhancement in the near-field is observed for Rayleigh waves when either the generator or detector is close to a defect. For a scanned detector measurement, enhancement is observed due to constructive interference of the incident and reflected waves. For a scanned generator measurement, the change in generation conditions when the laser is over the defect also lead to an enhancement. In measurements of plate samples we observe similar enhancement effects whereby higher order modes are observed when the laser is above a defect. We discuss the implications of signal enhancements for detecting and characterising surface cracking.