UT of bimetallic welds by shear horizontal waves and electromagnetic ultrasonic (EMUS) probes

Bimetallic transition welds include in most cases besides the austenitic weldment an austenitic buttering. Their inspection by ultrasound is strongly complicated by a high degree of elastic anisotropy. The elastic anisotropy results in phase and group velocities of the elastic wave-modes, which are functions of the propagation direction inside the weld metal and which cause skewing of the sound beams. The coarse grain structure leads to enhanced scattering. Furthermore, there exists a mismatch of the acoustical impedances between the weld metal and the base metal, which depends on the angle of incidence at the interface base metal/weld metal and weld metal/buttering. Due to these facts up to now using standard UT-techniques only the HAZ's are inspected from both sides. In many cases dissimilar metal welds are only accessible from one side. Therefore, US-techniques are necessary which are capable to inspect the whole weld even if there is only access from one side. By improvement of the technology of the EMUS-probes and of the EMUS-instrumentation for the US-transduction of SH-waves a reliable technique for the ISI of dissimilar metal welds and also of austenitic welds is available. The contribution will shortly introduce into the physical basis of the SH-wave technique and present the results of test specimen measurements. The main part of the paper will report about the experiences and the results of field applications in different nuclear power plants