Effect of Surface Roughness on Ultrasonic Testing of Back-Surface Micro-Cracks

Abstract

Surface roughness is one of the main factors that affect the ultrasonic testing of micro-cracks. This article theoretically analyzes the relationship between the changes in the energy intensity of crack echo waves and roughness-modified transmission coefficients. A series of simulations are carried out using two-dimensional sinusoidal curves as rough surface. Then, parallel experiments are performed on sample surfaces with different arithmetic average heights (Ra). The signal amplitude ratio factor (SARF) is defined to assess the ultrasonic detection capacity for micro-cracks. Both finite element analysis and experimental results show that signal amplitude decreases with an increase in Ra, resulting in signal-to-noise ratio loss. Amplitude attenuation caused by the rough back surface is less than that caused by the rough front surface. It is difficult to identify the signal of micro-cracks with a depth less than 400 μm when the Ra of the front surface is larger than 15 μm. Cracks with depths of more than 200 μm can be distinguished when the back-surface roughness is less than 24 μm. Furthermore, the amplitude of the micro-crack signal increases slightly with variation in the horizontal parameter (Rsm). This study provides a valuable reference for the precision evaluation of micro-cracks using ultrasonic inspection.