Nondestructive testing of ceramic components: Cooperative research and development agreement completion report

In a joint Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Martin Marietta Energy Systems (MMES) and an industrial partner, Y-12 has been evaluating nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to identify the quality of high strength aluminum oxide tubes used in laser applications. In Phase I, several NDE techniques were developed to inspect the tubes. In Phase II a correlation between detected defects, actual failure mode and strength of the tubes was developed. In Phase II the industrial partner supplied tubes manufactured under a variety of conditions and containing material defects expected from process control variations. The tubes were inspected at MMES utilizing a variety of available acoustic techniques. After inspection, ring tensile specimens were fabricated to determine the tensile strength. The data were evaluated utilizing Weibull statistics to determine the statistical impact of the defects upon strength and correlate the data with the nondestructive evaluations of the tubes and observed defect distribution