Feasibility study on diagnosis of material damage using bulk wave mixing technique

Ultrasonic nonlinear evaluation is generally utilized for detection of not only defects but also microdamage such as corrosion and plastic deformation. Nonlinearity is determined by the amplitude ratio of primary wave second harmonic wave, and the results of its comparison are used for evaluation. Owing to the experimental features, the experimental nonlinearity result contains system nonlinearity and material nonlinearity. System nonlinearity is that which is unwanted by the user; hence, it acts as an error and interrupts analysis. In this study, a bulk wave mixing technique is implemented in order to minimize the system nonlinearity and obtain the reliable analysis results. The biggest advantage of this technique is that experimental nonlinearity contains less system nonlinearity than that for the conventional nonlinear ultrasonic technique. Theoretical and experimental verifications are performed in this study. By comparing the results of the bulk wave mixing technique with those of the conventional technique, the strengths, weaknesses, and application validity of the bulk wave mixing technique are determined