Application of Ultrasonic Phased Arrays to Inspection of Plastic Pressure Vessels

Ultrasonic phased arrays are attractive for NDE applications [1] as they offer the ability to rapidly inspect a part without extensive mechanical translation. In addition, the ability to discretely produce or sample a sound field provides greater generality in data manipulation than is possible with a single fixed focus transducer. Successful implementation requires careful consideration of how to couple sound from the transducer to the part and selection of an appropriate reconstruction algorithm to compensate for refraction arising from sound velocity changes. Previously, the high cost for the specialized transducer and data acquisition system have precluded general use of this technology in the NDE community. The observation that many manufactured plastics possess acoustic properties similar to those of the human body has lead us to investigate the direct application of relatively inexpensive medical phased array technology to these materials