Moduli Determination at Different Temperatures by an Ultrasonic Waveguide Method

A novel ultrasonic waveguide based technique for measuring the moduli of elastic isotropic material as a function of temperature using ultrasonic guided wave modes is presented here. This technique can be utilized for measuring Young’s modulus (E) and Shear Modulus (G) of multiple material using the guided ultrasonic L(0, 1) and T(0, 1) wave modes respectively over a wide range of temperatures (demonstrated here from room temperature to 1200 °C). The specimens used in the experiments here have special embodiments (for instance, a bend) at one end of the waveguide and an ultrasonic guided wave generator (transducer) at the other end for obtaining reflected signals in a pulse-echo mode. The far end of the waveguides with the embodiment is kept inside a heating device such as a temperature-controlled furnace. The time of flight difference (δTOF) were used to measure the moduli at different temperatures. Several materials were tested and the comparison between literature values and measured values were found to be in agreement, for both elastic moduli (E and G) measurements, as a function of temperature. This technique provides significant reduction in time, effort and cost over conventional means of measurement of temperature dependence of elastic moduli.