Optimization techniques and impulse acoustic microscopy: towards an absolute characterization of anisotropic materials

Deals with the theoretical prediction of the impulse response of materials achieved by a special surface acoustic microscope operating in the MHz frequency range. This is applied to a lensless transducer with a line focus (cylindrical shape) in order to characterize anisotropic materials. A one dimensional (1 D) modelling is developed and then validated by comparison between experiments and theoretical predictions. By means of an optimization technique, this modelling tends to solve the inverse problem of the elastic constant evaluation applied to rolled materials.