Ultrasonic analysis of texture and characterization of materials properties and behaviour influenced by texture

Texture causes direction dependencies of the elastic properties. Hence, the ultrasonic wave velocities become direction dependent. The velocities of ultrasonic waves propagating through a textured material with orthorhombic symmetry can be described in terms of the elastic moduli and the 4th order expansion coefficients of the orientation distribution function (ODF). It was in the years following 1982 when the elastic anisotropy caused by texture gained the interest of those researchers working in the field of ultrasonic stress analysis. The objective of the investigations was the separation of the influence of texture on the ultrasonic quantities form those of the stress state. The IZFP activities started in 1984 when the equations published by Sayers are used to study the influence of texture on the temperature dependence of ultrasonic velocities. First results showing the correlation between 4th order expansion coefficients, evaluated using ultrasonic velocity data, and the drawability parameters, characterizing the direction dependence of the plastic deformation of rolled sheets, are published in 1984. Meanwhile different ultrasonic systems have been developed and introduced into industrial applications