Non-destructive evaluation of the ultimate tensile strength for low carbon steels by ultrasound measurements

An opportunity for non-destructive evaluation of ultimate tensile strength for low carbon steels is proposed. The analytical dependencies of the relationships between acoustic characteristics – propagation velocity of longitudinal and transverse ultrasonic waves, attenuation coefficient and damping ratio of their spreading in the volume of material and the ultimate tensile strength are derived. Experiments were performed for determination of an ultimate tensile strength following the standard destructive tensile test procedure with a specimen manufactured by the same material. The results obtained through the destructive and the proposed by the authors non-destructive method are compared. It has been concluded after statistical analysis of respective experimental data that the accuracy with which ultimate tensile strength is estimated by non-destructive measurements is acceptable in many practical applications. Key words: ultrasonic measurements, low carbon steel, ultimate tensile strength