Monolithic ceramic tile is used as part of ceramic-composite armor. Rejection of individual tile that contain potential threat-defeat-reducing "defects" must be accomplished in a fast and cost-effective manner. Water-immersion phased-array ultrasound using 10 MHz 128-element transducers sequenced at 32-elements has been demonstrated to quickly scan and detect 25-50 um known inclusion-type defects in individual 25 mm thick SiC tile. Further, use of similar phased-array transducers and similar transducer-element activation sequences, has shown detection of intentional internal defects in tests of 40 cm square by 50 mm thick, multi-layered composite ceramic-armor specimens. Large changes in acoustic velocities of the various layered materials causes focusing issues of the ultrasonic wave. The use of various digital signal processing methods can be used to overcome some of these issues. The results show that use of phased array ultrasound can reliably be used for defect detection in either monolithic or composite ceramic-armor. The technology and various results are presented.
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