Non-contact ultrasonic characterisation of angled surface defects

Surface ultrasonic waves have been shown to have many uses in non-destructive testing, in particular for gauging the depth of surface defects. Much of the previous work has assumed that these defects are oriented normal to the surface. However, this is not always the case; for example, rolling contact fatigue in rails propagates at an angle of around 25° to the surface, and this angle may affect the characterisation. We present results using non-contact ultrasonic methods to generate and detect ultrasound on samples with a range of defect angles, and compare these with finite element method (FEM) models. We use both electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) and laser ultrasound. The depth calibration when measuring ultrasound transmission is considered, and what affect the angle of a defect has. Several other methods of characterising crack depth and angle are also discussed, including the arrival times of reflected and mode-converted waves, the delay in the transmission of the high-frequency Rayleigh wave, and the enhancement of the signal at the defect in both the in-plane and out-of-plane components