Synthetic Aperture Imaging Technology for Ultrasonic Spiral Scanning Detection of Metal Bars

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2022.00095

Acta Metall Sin

2024, Vol. 60

Issue (4): 559-568 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2022.00095

Research paper

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Synthetic Aperture Imaging Technology for Ultrasonic Spiral Scanning Detection of Metal Bars

LI Zhenjie¹^,², CAI Guixi¹(

), ZHANG Bo¹, LI Jingming¹, LI Jiankui¹

1 Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
2 School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Shenyang 110016, China

Cite this article:

LI Zhenjie, CAI Guixi, ZHANG Bo, LI Jingming, LI Jiankui. Synthetic Aperture Imaging Technology for Ultrasonic Spiral Scanning Detection of Metal Bars. Acta Metall Sin, 2024, 60(4): 559-568.

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Abstract

Spiral scanning mode, where ultrasonic probes relatively rotate forward around a tested bar, is commonly used in an automatic ultrasonic testing system for metal bar quality control. Current nondestructive testing standards for bars with ultrasonic technology specify that whether the bar is rejected or accepted should be made in accordance with the amplitude of the echo from a defect in the bar. The quality information obtained by the abovementioned standard testing procedure is only the echo from the defect, and it is too simple to characterize the defect in detail and accurately. Therefore, inspection using imagery and quantitative nondestructive testing (QNDT) of bar quality is the development trend of bar quality control technology in the future. In achieving QNDT of metal round bars, a synthetic aperture focusing on imaging algorithm in a polar coordinate system (pSAFT) and its surrounding scan-mode time-domain synthetic aperture focusing technology (ST-SAFT) were proposed in accordance with the classical ultrasonic synthetic aperture focusing technology (SAFT) theory on a Cartesian coordinate system. Based on the signal set collected by the spiral scanning automatic detection system, the formula of time-delay superposition imaging expressed by the effective synthetic aperture radian was deduced to image the defects in the bar with a cross-sectional view. By preparing a transverse-hole artificial defect sample for the testing experiment, ultrasonic testing data were processed by ST-SAFT, and then a circular section tomography was imaged. Image edge recognition was used to quantitatively evaluate the sizing ability and positioning resolution of ST-SAFT for defect detection. Experimental results show that the measured value of artificial defects with ST-SAFT is equivalent to the real value; the positioning of the transverse side-drilled hole is accurate, and the imaging resolution is significantly better than that of B-scan. The imaging speed for each circular section can reach the order of milliseconds, which can match the mechanical scanning speed of bar inspection for one circle. Therefore, this technology can be used to improve the technical level of ultrasonic automatic testing equipment for metal round bars and ensure safety of the application of metal round bars.

Key words: quality control for bar ultrasonic testing surrounding-scan-mode time-domain synthetic aperture focusing technology (ST-SAFT) spiral scanning circular section tomography

Received: 07 March 2022

ZTFLH:

TG115.28

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(31702393);National Natural Science Foundation of China(31702393);Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province(2019-MS-334)

Corresponding Authors: CAI Guixi, professor, Tel: 13709823129, E-mail: gxcai@imr.ac.cn

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2022.00095 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2024/V60/I4/559

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of SAFT imaging in cartesian coordinate system (SAFT—synthetic aperture focusing technology; x and z—location for object point by lateral distance and depth, L—effective length of synthetic aperture, $β$ _0.5—diffusion angle of sound beam, 1…i…n—position of each probe, $S 1$ … $S i$ … $S n$ —detection signal at each probe position, M and M ′—measured size of defect A before and after SAFT processing, respectively)
(a) linear scanning mode
(b) signal set corresponding to each detection position
(c) SAFT reconstructed image

Fig.2 Schematics of SAFT in polar coordinate system (pSAFT) imaging of round bar (R—cross section radius of round bar, r—radius of inscribed circle of sound beam, $θ$ —twice the incident angle of sound beam, $θ$ '—aperture angle of virtual source, $φ 1$ … $φ i$ … $φ n$ —circumferential scanning angle, $γ$ and $γ$ '—synthetic aperture radian for virtual inspection aperture near and far away object A respectively, $ρ$ and $α$ —location for defect in polar system by polar radius and angle respectively, $d$ —distance from virtual aperture position to object point)
(a) surrounding-scan-mode, object B in the ‘r’ zone
(b) scope of virtual inspection aperture for object A (scanning at

d < R

side)
(c) scope of virtual inspection aperture for object A (scanning at

d > R

side)
(d) object B signal set corresponding to each scanning angle
(e) object A signal set corresponding to each scanning angle
(f) circular section tomograph

Fig.3 Schematics about synthetic aperture radian (SAR) derivation in polar coordinate ( $ψ$ —intermediate variable used to calculate $γ$ and $γ'$ , is the sum of half aperture angle of the virtual source and half of the SAR)
(a) for scanning at

d < R

side (b) for scanning at

d > R

side

Fig.4 Photo of experimental equipment (a) and schematic diagram of spiral scanning for a bar (b)

Fig.5 Schematic diagram of steel specimen (ϕ—diameter of the specimen)
(a) transverse-hole artificial defect sample (b) polar diagram of each transverse hole position

Table 1 Location and size measurement of artificial defects

Fig.6 Imaging charts of scanning results in a circle
(a) B-scan image (b) cross-sectional image with raw data

Fig.7 ST-SAFT processed images
(a) circumferential expansion of radial depth position of defect
(b) cross-sectional tomogram after ST-SAFT processing

Fig.8 Resolution curve before ST-SAFT processing

Fig.9 Resolution curve after ST-SAFT processing

Fig.10 Zoom images processed by ST-SAFT to indicate those holes positions (Herein, $ϕ$ means the measured diameter of transverse hole image)

Fig.11 Initial serial imaging after ST-SAFT processing
(a) 3D image (b) axial space slice

Fig.12 Final serial imaging after ST-SAFT processing
(a) columnar image (b) axial space section

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