Industrial ultrasonic imaging and microscopy

Ultrasonic imaging and scanned acoustic microscopy are terms used to describe similar imaging processes at different magnifications and frequencies. Both processes form images by acquiring spatially correlated measurements of the interaction of high-frequency sound waves with materials. With the exception of the interference measurement, called V (z ), and the gigahertz frequencies used by the higher frequency scanning acoustic microscopes, it is difficult to establish operational differences between them. This is especially true since almost all commercial ultrasonic imaging systems use transducers producing focused beams and can display magnified high-resolution images. Ultrasonic C-scan imaging was developed largely by the ultrasonic nondestructive testing industry. The development was gradual and evolutionary. Over a 50-year period, better and better broadband transducers, electronics and scanners were developed for operation at progressively higher frequencies, now ranging from 1.0 to 100 MHz. Conversely, scanning acoustic microscopes made a relatively sudden appearance 20 years ago on the campus of Stanford University. The first scanning acoustic microscopes operated at gigahertz frequencies and used microwave electronics that produced acoustic tone bursts with many wavelengths per pulse. Three factors control resolution in an acoustic image: • diameter of the acoustic beam or its point spread function (PSF); • size and spacing of the pixels making up the image; • signal-to-noise ratio (contrast) of the feature being resolved. The beam diameter, or PSF, is controlled by the frequency of the ultrasonic pulse and the focal convergence of the beam (or focal length to diameter ratio Z /d ). In the coupling fluid, the Z /d ratio is determined by the transducer diameter and lens, but in the material, Z /d is established by the materials ultrasonic velocities. Pixels are the squares of colour or greyscale that make up computer displays of scanned images. Following Nyquist’s criterion, the resolution of those images is twice the size and spacing of the pixels. It follows, therefore, that in order to support the resolution of an ultrasonic beam, the pixels must be no larger than half that beam diameter. Finally, the contrast of the feature being studied must be (at least) a clear shade of grey above the background produced by the image noise. The noise can be due to the material or the electronics. Written to support industrial ultrasonic inspection of materials, this discussion will emphasise the similarities between imaging and microscopy rather than the differences. The roles of the focusing lens, the pulse frequency, and the material being imaged, with respect to the final resolution of an acoustic image, will be considered in detail. It will be shown that additional improvements in resolution can be achieved with image processing. Finally, applications studies in metals, ceramics, composites, attachment methods, coatings, and electronic assemblies will be used to demonstrate specific roles for imaging/microscopy in nondestructive testing.