Material characterization in situ using ultrasound measurements

This paper presents a novel approach to material characterization in situ using ultrasound. A major problem associated with the use of ultrasound in such measurement is the distortion of signals due to nonplanar cylindrical surface profiles of the targets. This was solved by developing compensation techniques whereby the received signals were normalized with respect to that of equivalent planar targets. Compensated ultrasonic signals were then used to obtain the characteristic acoustic properties of the material to identify the material in situ with a statistical probability using stored data.