High temperature ultrasonic transducers for the generation of guided waves for non-destructive evaluation of pipes

Sinding, Kyle; Searfass, Clifford T.; Malarich, Nathan; Reinhardt, Brian; Tittmann, B. R.

doi:10.1063/1.4864834

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…A table of candidate materials for longitudinal wave generation is provided below in Table 3; however, this is only the first step. The final column in Table 3 is of substantial importance as it has been found that crystal structure plays a significant role in radiation tolerance of ceramics [33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74].…”

Section: Piezoelectric Materials For Radiation Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the past decades there has been significant interest and therefore research into the problem of ultrasonic transducers for harsh environments [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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State-of-the-Art and Practical Guide to Ultrasonic Transducers for Harsh Environments Including Temperatures above 2120 °F (1000 °C) and Neutron Flux above 1013 n/cm2

Tittmann

Batista

Trivedi

et al. 2019

Sensors

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In field applications currently used for health monitoring and nondestructive testing, ultrasonic transducers primarily employ PZT5-H as the piezoelectric element for ultrasound transmission and detection. This material has a Curie–Weiss temperature that limits its use to about 210 °C. Some industrial applications require much higher temperatures, i.e., 1000–1200 °C and possible nuclear radiation up to 1020 n/cm2 when performance is required in a reactor environment. The goal of this paper is the survey and review of piezoelectric elements for use in harsh environments for the ultimate purpose for structural health monitoring (SHM), non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and material characterization (NDMC). The survey comprises the following categories: 1. High-temperature applications with single crystals, thick-film ceramics, and composite ceramics, 2. Radiation-tolerant materials, and 3. Spray-on transducers for harsh-environment applications. In each category the known characteristics are listed, and examples are given of performance in harsh environments. Highlighting some examples, the performance of single-crystal lithium niobate wafers is demonstrated up to 1100 °C. The wafers with the C-direction normal to the wafer plane were mounted on steel cylinders with high-temperature Sauereisen and silver paste wire mountings and tested in air. In another example, the practical use in harsh radiation environments aluminum nitride (AlN) was found to be a good candidate operating well in two different nuclear reactors. The radiation hardness of AlN was evident from the unaltered piezoelectric coefficient after a fast and thermal neutron exposure in a nuclear reactor core (thermal flux = 2.12 × 1013 ncm−2; fast flux 2 (>1.0 MeV) = 4.05 × 1013 ncm−2; gamma dose rate: 1 × 109 r/h; temperature: 400–500 °C). Additionally, some of the high-temperature transducers are shown to be capable of mounting without requiring coupling material. Pulse-echo signal amplitudes (peak-to-peak) for the first two reflections as a function of the temperature for lithium niobate thick-film, spray-on transducers were observed to temperatures of about 900 °C. Guided-wave send-and-receive operation in the 2–4 MHz range was demonstrated on 2–3 mm thick Aluminum (6061) structures for possible field deployable applications where standard ultrasonic coupling media do not survive because of the harsh environment. This approach would benefit steam generators and steam pipes where temperatures are above 210 °C. In summary, there are several promising approaches to ultrasonic transducers for harsh environments and this paper presents a survey based on literature searches and in-house laboratory observations.

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Section: Piezoelectric Materials For Radiation Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

State-of-the-Art and Practical Guide to Ultrasonic Transducers for Harsh Environments Including Temperatures above 2120 °F (1000 °C) and Neutron Flux above 1013 n/cm2

Tittmann

Batista

Trivedi

et al. 2019

Sensors

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“…K. Sinding et al [37] described a successful and effective means of utilizing NDE and SHM techniques for steam generators where ultrasonic transducers having the ability of withstanding high temperatures can be implemented. This approach also demands a stronger coupling of the transducers to the complex geometries of the heat exchangers at elevated temperatures.…”

Section: Applications Of Ultrasonic-guided Waves As An Nde Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Potential to Extend the Range of Established Online Monitoring Technologies, Such as Guided Waves in Nuclear Power Plant Systems

Gribok

2017

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The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program was initiated to evaluate technologies that could be used to perform online monitoring of piping and other secondary system structural components in commercial NPPs. These online monitoring systems have the potential to identify when a more detailed inspection is needed using real-time measurements, rather than at a pre-determined inspection interval.This transition to condition-based, risk-informed automated maintenance will contribute to a significant reduction of operations and maintenance costs that account for most nuclear power generation costs.This report describes the current state of research related to ultrasonic-guided wave testing and its application to defect detection in commercial nuclear power plants. The report analyzes the applicability of the guided wave technology to secondary piping systems, as well as studying the potential for expanding the range of guided wave technology to include bent piping and other piping components. The ultrasonic-guided waves can inspect long stretches of straight piping; however, more complex geometries such as elbows, welds, and tees are causing spurious reflections and coherent noise, which significantly decreases the sensitivity of the technique.The report also analyzes two approaches to suppress coherent noise in guided wave systems: (1) advanced signal processing and pattern recognition based on independent component analysis, and (2) blind source separation and a hardware-based technique using piezoelectric paint, which can be used to facilitate the propagation of mechanical stress waves through piping. It is demonstrated on simulated guided wave data that the independent component analysis is capable of separating different coherent noise components and segregating them from useful signal. The piezoelectric paint approach seems to be a viable alternative to signal processing methods; however, it requires significantly more complicated logistics and initial financial outlay.The future efforts will be concentrated on applying the independent component analysis to real-world guided wave data recorded by the guided wave monitoring system installed on the shell of the lowpressure feedwater heater 13A at Exelon Corporation's Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station. Also, the joint EPRI-INL research efforts will focus on experimental evaluation of piezoelectric paint as a technique to extend the range of guided wave technology. v SUMMARY This report describes the technical potential to extend the range of ultrasonic-guided wave testing in nuclear power plants (NPPs), which is being conducted under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. The LWRS Program, funded by DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, aims to provide scientific, engineering, and technological foundations for extending the life of operating light water reactors (LWRs). This program involves several goals, one of which is ensuring the safe operation of the passive components in NPPs, such as concrete, piping, ste...

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“…Hou et al [ 11 ] have directly deposited thick piezo films onto high temperature structures. Sinding et al [ 12 ] have sprayed piezoelectric powder on the surfaces of structures. The attachment procedure for these transducers is intricate and time-consuming, requiring several deposition steps and subsequent poling to achieve robust attachment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of Waveguide Bars for Transmitting a Pure Shear Horizontal Wave to Monitor High Temperature Components

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Guided wave technique could be a possible method for monitoring components working in high temperature above 350 • C. However, this would require the design of an appropriate waveguide bar to transmit the wave, so that its sensing part is not influenced by the high temperature. In the present study, the shape of waveguide bars is designed based on the analysis of wave source characteristics. The critical frequency-width and frequency-thickness products of waveguide bars are analyzed theoretically and numerically to transmit the zeroth shear horizontal wave SH0* in bars. The results show that waveguide bars can cut off all the other wave modes when their frequency-thickness products are smaller than the critical value fd*, and frequency-width products are not smaller than the critical value fw*. Six waveguide bars are designed and fabricated based on the design criteria, and an experiment system is set up to check their work performance. The testing results indicate that the wave signals of the SH0* mode propagate clearly in waveguide bars, and cut off all the other modes when the frequency-thickness products and frequency-width products of the bars meet the design criteria. It is also demonstrated that the dependency of the experimental group velocity of each waveguide bar on frequency is in good agreement with the numerical result. High-temperature experiments also validate the reliability of the designed waveguide bars. Therefore, the critical frequency-thickness product and frequency-width product can be the basis for the design of the waveguide bars.

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High temperature ultrasonic transducers for the generation of guided waves for non-destructive evaluation of pipes

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

State-of-the-Art and Practical Guide to Ultrasonic Transducers for Harsh Environments Including Temperatures above 2120 °F (1000 °C) and Neutron Flux above 1013 n/cm2

State-of-the-Art and Practical Guide to Ultrasonic Transducers for Harsh Environments Including Temperatures above 2120 °F (1000 °C) and Neutron Flux above 1013 n/cm2

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Potential to Extend the Range of Established Online Monitoring Technologies, Such as Guided Waves in Nuclear Power Plant Systems

Design of Waveguide Bars for Transmitting a Pure Shear Horizontal Wave to Monitor High Temperature Components

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