Ultrasonics has become widespread as anondestructive testing technique. The most commonly useddevice for generation and reception of ultrasound are contactingpiezo-electric transducers. Because these devices require physicalcoupling with the sample, test specimens must be stationary, andsurfaces both cool and nonabrasive. Obviously, traditionalcontacting transducers cannot be used for real-time evaluation ofcertain manufacturing operations, such as weld quality control,where the test specimen could be in motion, and hot as well. Thispaper presents an evaluation of a noncontacting ultrasonic testingsystem consisting of a laser and fiber optic probe for generatingultrasound and an electromagnetic acoustic transducer forreceiving the signals. This system has been applied to simulatedliquid welds to demonstrate the feasibility of using similarequipment for real-time weld quality control. Weld penetrationdepth is investigated.
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