Laser-based non-destructive

testing techniques for the

ultrasonic characterization
of subsurface flaws
A.M. Aindow, R.J. Dewhurst, S.B. Palmer and C.B. Scruby

Laser generation and detection of ultrasound has been used for remote
characterization of flat-bottomed holes, acting as subsurface flaws, drilled into an
aluminium test sample. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser system was used to generate the
ultrasonic source whilst a He-Ne laser interferometer detected the subsequent
surface displacements. The technique allows both the width and depth of flaws
to be assessed. Moreover, an analysis of the data shows that the method is
particularly suited to detection of flaws < 4 mm below the surface of the
sample, a region which is difficult to inspect by conventional contact ultrasonic
techniques.

Keywords: ultrasonic testing, lasers, flaw characterization

It is already well known that acoustic pulses may be used
to characterize subsurface flaws. For the detection of
small flaws in metals, say < 1 m m in size, it is desirable
that the acoustic pulses should have frequency com-
ponents in excess of 10 MHz. This broadband frequency
range has already been achieved using a pulsed laserl~-21,
- an ultrasonic generator that has the advantage of being
-
remote from the test sample under investigation. The
nature of the acoustic waveforms so generated depends on
many factors, relating to the nature of the acoustic
sourcel3-61. Acoustic propagation in solids is complex. In
the bulk material, both longitudinal (L) and shear (S)
waves may be propagated, and on the surface Rayleigh
waves dominate. However, because of the nature of the
laser acoustic source, these wave arrivals at a point are
recognized not by an oscillatory displacement but instead
by a step or pulse function.
On the surface of a sample, such acoustic events can be
recorded with the use of broadband detectors. Most
detectors of acoustic pulses are of a contacting nature,
thereby necessarily perturbing the original characteristics
of the acoustic pulse. If instead a laser interferometer is
used, the detection system can be made remote, and where
convenient some of the output optics can be made integral
with the laser generator. In addition, a laser interferometer
can be made to function as a broadband detector capable
of I00 M H z frequency bandwidth. This high frequency
response may reduce its sensitivity, but we shall show in
this paper that its sensitivity is sufficient for the detection
and characterization of certain types of subsurface flaw.
The use of two complementary laser systems for remote
flaw detection has been described previously. One of the
earliest applications was described by Bondarenko et allT1
who used a Q-switched ruby laser emitting single pulses of
about 2 J with widths of 30-50 ns. They employed a
Michelson interferometer for the measurement of acoustic
pulses. The detector measured the normal component of
elastic displacement, and had a sensitivity of 1 nm in the
frequency range 5 kHz to 150 MHz. By observing in
transmission, they detected the presence of an artificial
planar defect by the absorption of the direct elastic pulse
propagating through parts of the test sample. Calder and
WilcoxlSl have used a similar arrangement to detect an
artificial flaw consisting of a 1.5 m m diameter hole
midway across a 25 m m aluminium plate. With 15 J from a
Q-switched Nd:glass laser, they observed strong ultrasonic
echoes, but found that the laser pulse caused appreciable
local surface damage. Finally, Wellmanlgl has used a
Q-switched ruby laser, with pulse energies from 0.9 to 1.4 J,
to detect simulated flaws in a polished stainless-steel disc.
In this case both laser generator and laser detector were
located on the same side of the disc.
This previous work has shown that laser-based ultrasonic
techniques are capable of flaw detection, but has made no
attempt to evaluate flaw characteristics from return
signals. Consequently, partly because interpretation has
never been demonstrated, and partly because laser
equipment is expensive, laser-based techniques have not
been adopted by industry. However, they offer a truly
remote diagnostic technique and are of potential use in
hostile industrial environments. For example, they have a
role to play in the quality control of hot steel produced
from a rolling mill. Other techniques which could be
employed include acoustic transducers (EMATS),but these
need stringent cooling because of their proximity to the

0308-9126/84/060329-07 $3.00 © 1984 Butterworth Et Co (Publishers) Ltd

NDT INTERNATIONAL. VOL 17. NO 6. DECEMBER 1984 329
 Beamsplitter
Prisms
/ ~
Nd ; YAG
laser ~
J~ ~ I
X/" i,,;;;;- /I
Photodiode ~.~
h a 11
I I
T-:
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
Fig.1 Experimentalarrangement
hot steel and also have limited spatial resolution. We have
therefore proceeded with a set of experiments to show that
quantifiable parameters can be extracted from ultrasonic
flawdetection using laser-based techniques.
In the present investigation, we have used two lasers
probing from the same surface of a polished flat
aluminium sample, using flat-bottomed holes as sub-
surface flaws. The laser source, used to generate the
acoustic pulses, had more than an order of magnitude less
energy than in previous published work on flaw detection,
leading to situations in which the target remained
undamaged. From an analysis of signals received by the
interferometer, it has been possible to not only detect flaws
remotely, but also to characterize features of the flaw.
Experimental procedure
The experimental arrangement used is shown in Figure 1.
A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at a wavelength of
1.06/~m was used as the system generating the acoustic
source. Operating parameters were set such that the laser
provided output energies of 33 __+ 2 mJ in 30 ns, wi~h a
multimode transverse mode structure. The unfocussed
beam diameter was 3.5 m m full-width-half-height, so that
the average power density produced by the laser was
10 MW cm -~. After propagating through optical com-
ponents and b e a m deflectors, the power density on the
surface of the metal sample wasN4 MW cm -2, insufficient
to cause significant change to the surface.
The laser was directed onto a polished face of an
aluminium test sample, and monitoring of the subsequent
surface response was carried out with a visible He-Ne
laser probe b e a m which, in the first set of experiments, was
coincident on the surface with the infra-red laser pulse. A
long focal length lens o f f = 1 m was used in the probe
beam to produce a spot on the surface of "-0.5 m m
diameter. The b e a m formed part of a phase-locked
interferometer which has been described else-
where, ll01 being based on a Michelson arrangement.
330
Interference
/filter
He-Ne laser
/ iinterferometer
ntHe~
Output
Convexlens, ]
,=,m . I
I Storag
Stora II H Mini J
[ oscilloscope
oscillosc ] ] digitizer computer
Testsample
/ / / / / / /
x-y table
He-Ne laser light, frequency-shifted at 10 MHz, was
divided by a beam splitter to travel along different optical
paths before being recombined. Their mutual interference
was observed as intensity fluctuations which can be
related to small movements, typically < 50 nm. In our case
a 10 m W He-Ne laser was used, with most of the light
going into the main beam which was focussed onto the test
sample. About 5% was split off to form the reference beam,
and travelled a fixed path before recombining with the back-
scattered light from the test sample. Subsequent inter-
ference between reference and scattered beams was
monitored by two photodetectors in an optical arrange-
ment which produced antiphase outputs, thereby sup-
pressing spurious noise variations. Voltage signals, in the
100 mV range, were directly proportional to absolute
displacement of the test sample's surface. Movements of
frequencies < 10 kHz were electronically filtered out. so
that the system's frequency response extended from
10 kHz to 100 MHz.
To maximize signal-to-noise ratio, the He-Ne probe beam
was set normal to the test sample so that backscattered
light was also a m a x i m u m on the same axis. Additionally,
to prevent any significant pulsed Nd:YAG radiation
travelling into the interferometer system, the high power
laser beam was misaligned to the surface normal by 5°,
and a transmission filter at the He-Ne wavelength was
introduced in the interferometer probe beam.
In most experiments, the sample consisted of an
aluminium plate 177 × 100 × 12.5 mm in which flat-
bottomed holes of diametera = 6.35 m m had been drilled
to various depths, normal to the plate. As viewed from the
opposite surface, such holes appeared as subsurface flaws
at measured depths ofh = 1.22 mm, 2.21 mm, 3.45 m m and
4.80 mm. The surface was polished flat to N3/zm, and the
sample mounted on a n x - y table for translation from one
flawed region to the next.
Signal capture from the laser interferometer was either
through an oscilloscope or a Tektronix 7612D digitizer
NDT INTERNATIONAL. DECEMBER 1984
linked to a H P 1000 minicomputer. Each waveform, t

representing the surface displacement, consisted of 2048

data points, and could be stored in the computer for later
signal processing, Synchronous external triggering was
obtained from a photodiode, type HP 5082 - 4220,
monitoring the Q-switched laser pulse. The pretrigger
facility allowed captured waveforms to show the earliest
event of each signal.
Results and discussion
For a sample with no defects the incident Nd:YAG laser E
pulse caused the surface of the sample to rise. Figure 2a
shows this surface motion when a laser pulse of 2 m m .

diameter with 13 mJ energy was incident on the metal.

With signal delays introduced into waveform capture by
the digitizer, the step rise occurs simultaneously with
firing of the Q-switch laser, and represents relief of
internal stress close to the sample's surface as its
temperature rises. Once heat has been delivered to the
target the displacement remains essentially constant until
significant lateral diffusion takes place. This occurred
over timescales longer than those seen in Figure 2a~ In
contrast, when the surface movement was examined over
100
80
60
~l i i i i t i i i
O,
Time (8/J$ div -1 ) Time (8/,¢sdiv- I )
Fig. 3 Elastic response on the surface of an aluminium sample for
laminar type flaws of differing aspect ratios (a/h). A series of flat-
bottomed holes were used with a diameter a of 6.35 mm, and the time of
the first rising edge of the waveform corresponds to the time when the
laser was pulsed
a flawed region with h -- 1.22 mm, this waveform changed
showing significantly different features (Figure 2b). A
small, high frequency oscillation was superimposed on a
larger amplitude, low frequency oscillation. The
amplitude of the latter depended on the depth of flaw h
(Figure 3) such that the depth of modulation decreased as
h increased. The amplitude of this resonance, as viewed
on the oscilloscope trace, was found to be dependent on
the aspect ratio a/h of the flaw, and in our case could not

<E
40 /F be detected for flaw depths greater than 4 mm, where
a/h --<1.5.
Both the high and low frequency oscillations can be
understood in terms of elastic behaviour. We first consider
the low frequency oscillations, as shown in Figure 3. I fit is
20 assumed that a shallow flat-bottomed subsurface flaw is a
thin, clamped, circular plate vibratin~ normal to its
surface, then calculations by MorsePq show that the
I i ! I
fundamental resonance frequency is expected to be given
2.5 5.0 7.5 10 by
a
Time ~us)
Pf = 1.868 ~ - 1 )

50
where Yis Young's modulus, P the density and ~rPoisson's
ratio for the metal concerned. For aluminium
4O
Y = 70.3 G N m -s, (r = 2.7 X 10a kg m -3 and ~ = 0.345.
A comparison of calculated and experimental values is
i shown in Table 1. Experimental evaluation was easy for
cases where the aspect ratio was in excess of about three.
The table shows that agreement is poor, but progressively
improves as the aspect ratio increases. This is to be expec-
'< 20 ted, since for larger a/h the flaw resembles a "plate'
with its physical dimension a more clearly defining the
spatial region over which vibration takes place. It should
lo be noted that the 'plates' investigated in the present work
are only clamped, by the surrounding bulk of the material,
on one face. The diameter of the flaw is not defined on the
o i top face. One would therefore expect that the vibrations
0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10 normal to the surface increase in extent as one moves
b from the 'clamped' to the unclamped face. This results in
Time (/.~s) an overall increase in a for a given h.
Fig. 2 Initial elastic response on the surface of an aluminium sample If a cone angle, for the vibrational volume, of 46 ° is
when the laser spots were coincident above: a--an unflawed region; I~--a
flawed region (h = 1.22 ram. a = 6.35 mm). The time of the first rising
assumed and the plate diameter is taken as the resultant
edge of the waveform corresponds to the time when the laser was pulsed diameter produced on the top, unclamped, face, then the

NDT INTERNATIONAL. DECEMBER 1 9 8 4 331

Table 1. M e a s u r e d resonance frequencies of a flaxural m o d e of vibration above a subsurface f l a w in
aluminium, and comparison w i t h a theoretical model. In all cases, the w i d t h of f l a w a = ( 6 . 3 5 ± 0.1 ) m m

Depth of flaw, Measured (kHz) Calculated from Calculated (kHz) a/h

h (mm) Equation (1) (kHz) O N46° (see text)
(± 0.02 mm)

4.80 Below detection _ _ 1.32

threshold
3.45 188 + 10 869 193 1,84
2,21 170 + 6 557 188 2.87
1.22 152 + 6 307 155 5.20

frequencies shown in column four of Table 1 are

produced. These are seen to be in fair accord with the
experimental value. At presenL however, there is no
80 theoretical modelling available for this behaviour.
Although abetter fit to theory, and larger signals, could be
A
E obtained with larger a/h, values of a and h were chosen to
c 60 represent more typical subsurface defects in metals.
Figure 4a shows a typical experimental result when the
E aspect ratio was 5.2. It was found that the depth of
modulation depended on where the coincident laser spots
4o were positioned. As expected, this depth of modulation
was a maximum when the beams were centrally positioned
above the flaw, and decreased towards the flaw edges. The
20 resonance frequency could also be evaluated using a fast
Fourier transform procedure on the computer to generate
a waveform in the frequency domain (Figure 4b). The
1 I I 1 fundamental resonance frequency was clearly visible,
0 5O 100 150 200 together with some evidence of higher-order components.
When the diagnostic laser system was moved around the
a Time (/as) flawed region, the value of the fundamental resonance
frequency remained constant as expected - - only the
depth of modulation changed.
Hence, in a preliminary flaw investigation, the technique
described above may be used to estimate the area of the
flaw in situations involving thin plates or shallow laminar
flaws - - an area where conventional ultrasonic pulse-
¢.. echo techniques become difficult. In applications such as
the testing of bonded skins, h may be well known. If this is
so, the above technique can be used to monitor any 'plate'
oscillations, from which an estimate of the flaw area can
t~
be made using Equation (1), with the assumption of
v circular flaw symmetry. Using this method, values
"O
-n determined for the diameter a will always represent an
overestimate of their real extent.
"5
E Without some prior knowledge of the flaw depth h the
< technique is not sufficient to characterize the flaws fully,
only to obtain a2/h values. However, there was additional
_.) intbrmation within the laser-generated ultrasonic wave-
~ - - I. . . . . It- - --_i forms which could allow h to be evaluated indepen-
0 dently.
0.25 0.5 0.75 1
This information was obtained by considering the high
b Frequency (MHz) frequency oscillation, referred to previously and shown in
Figure 2b. A FFT of this waveform (Figure 5) indicated an
oscillation of small amplitude at 2.65 MHz, and was found
Fig. 4 Elastic waveform recorded over a 1.22 m m deep flat-bottomed to be reproducible on a shot-to-shot basis. Sucli a
hole, together with its fast Fourier transform. Figure 4a is the same periodicity can be interpreted as due to longitudinal
waveform as in Figure 2b, but shows the long timescale behaviour.
Incident laser energy was 3 6 mJ in a laser spot diameter of ~ 3 ram.
elastic waves propagating repetitively across the flawed
Firing.of the laser occurred at the same time as the initial rising edge of region. Pao et a/112I have previously shown that in the case
the waveform of an elastic plate, the epicentral surface response due to a

332 NDT INTERNATIONAL. DECEMBER 1984

 the two alternative ways in which this was achieved. In the
first method, using a coincident laser generator and
detector, the surface was scanned in a raster fashion. On
each x-direction scan, ultrasonic waveforms changed
significantly whenever the laser spots were above any part
A
of the subsurface flaw. If the line of scan was centred
above the flaw as shown in Figure 6, a sequence of elastic
C
waveforms was recorded, examples of which are shown in
Figure 7 where the x-origin is arbitrarily defined. With
successive laser shots separated spatially by a nominal
1 mm, significant modulation, as discussed earlier, was
seen in the rangex = 0,96 mm tox = 5.76 mm. It was easy
2.65 MHz to conclude that the diameter of the subsurface flaw was
between 4.8 mm and 6.7 mm, in good agreement with the
actual length of 6.35 mm.

Fig. 5
0 5 10

Frequency (MHz)

Fast Fourier transform of waveform in Figure 2b, showing the

15

frequency at which longitudinal elastic pulses repetitively travel across the

flawed region
20

~ nm x = 0

I i ~ n m
x = 0.96 mm

Coincident laser
• ,± generator and
, ~ ' detector of I 1 cm I
I elastic pulses / =: -- I /

"[ I Le.rgeneroro'l / "'/ I

I ""'v'' x = 1.92 mm
Direction of scan,x ~ I Direction of scan,x I
a b

Fig. 6 Two experimental arrangements for scanning a subsurface flaw: ~5

a - - coincident laser source and detector; b - - laser source and receiver a
fixed distance apart

x = 4.80 mm
transient force consists of step motions at time intervals
corresponding to the round-trip transit time of a long-
itudinal pulse. Likewise, the flawed region can be
considered to be a plate with elastic behaviour. Hence
Ill
h = ATCl _ Cl (2)
2 2Vs
x = 5.76 rnm
where AT is the time interval between successive long-
itudinal pulse arrivals on the top surface, cl is the
longitudinal velocity and v s = 1~AT. From Figure 5, nm

Vs = (2.65 +-- 0.1) MHz x = 6.72 mrn

from which h was evaluated as

h = 0.20 --+ 0.04) mm
~ ~ I lOnrn
This was in excellent agreement with measurements using x = 7.68 mm
calipers of
I I I I
h = (1.22 ___ 0.02) mm 0 50 100 150 200
These results show that it is possible using laser-based
Time (/zs)
remote flaw detection systems to collect quantifiable
information about the flaw from single shot measure- Fig. 7 Displacement waveforms obtained from a line scan across a
ments taken above the flawed region. flawed region having a physical diameter of 6.35 mm (lying 1.22 mrn
below the surface). Incident laser energy was 36 mJ in a diameter of
More detailed information about the extent of the flaw has ~ 3 rnm. Firing of the laser occurred at the same time as the initial rising
been obtained from scanning techniques. Figure 6 shows edge of the waveforrn

NDT I N T E R N A T I O N A L . DECEMBER 1 9 8 4 333


20 nm
I 20 nm
I waveforms to deduce flaw characteristics. This is in
E = ~ I 20 nm
8 We have shown that a two-laser system can be used for
I depth of flaw was determined by measuring the round-trip
20 nm
I I I I
2.5 5.0 7.5 10
Time (/as)
Fig. 8 Ultrasonic waveforms obtained from a line scan across a flawed
region which has a diameter of 6 . 3 5 mm (lying 1.22 mm below the
surface). Incident laser energy was 1 3 mJ with the receiver placed 1 cm
away from the source. The laser was fired at time t -- 0 s
An alternative method for scanning the surface is shown
in Figure 6b. Instead of detection immediately above the
laser source, the source and receiver were separated so
that, with a fixed separation, they scanned on either side of
the sublaminar flaw. A thin layer of oil was used at the
laser source position to enhance the Rayleigh wave
amplitude. With the x-axis set at an arbitrary origin, the
flaw was scanned with the target moving over nominal
2 m m spatial intervals between successive laser shots.
Without any flaw in direct line between laser source and
laser receiver, the surface pulse was that shown at the top
of Figure 8. It consisted of a fast pulse of a longitudinal
nature followed by a larger Rayleigh pulse. This waveform
has been described in detail elsewhere["l. As the flaw was
334
approached, the Rayleigh pulse became distorted due to
interaction with the flaw, which again was 1.22 m m below
the surface. The physics of the interaction leading to pulse
distortion is not well understood. When the scan had
passed beyond the flawed region, the typical Rayleigh
pulse returned. Other experiments showed that distortion
of the Rayleigh pulse can occur even for cases where the
depth of the sublaminar flaw was 4.8 mm. The ex-
perimental trace observed over the centre of the defect
(x = 5.76 mm, Figure 8), showed evidence of a low
frequency oscillatory phenomenon at "-200 kHz. This may
well be related to the flexural resonance mode of the plate
defect discussed earlier (Figure 4b).
We may therefore conclude that laser-generated Rayleigh
pulses offer an alternative way of detecting subsurface
flaws. However, without a well developed theoretical
model, it is not possible to analyse experimental
contrast to the first technique involving a coincident laser
source and laser detector, which offers a determination of
the depth of the fl~w below the surface, as well as its spatial
extent.
Conclusion
remote characterization of flat-bottomed holes, acting as
subsurface flaws within an aluminium test sample. A
pulsed Nd:YAG laser system was used to generate the
ultrasonic source whilst a He-Ne laser interferometer
detected subsequent surface displacements.
With both lasers coincident on the metal's surface, the
transit time of a compressional wave travelling repetitively
between the metal surface and the subsurface flaw. The
flaw also produced a characteristic resonant frequency
related to a flexural mode of vibration. Its area was
estimated using a formula based on circular symmetry.
For better definition of its spatial extent, the sample's
surface was scanned. Spatial resolution better than
___ 1 m m was recorded for a flaw 1.22 m m deep, having an
aspect ratio o f " 5 .
Another technique used separated laser beams on the
sample. Distortion of any Rayleigh pulse formed by the
pulsed laser determined the presence of a subsurface flaw.
However, it was not possible from these measurements to
describe any features of the flaw, since the physics of such
ultrasonic interaction has not yet been developed.
These results show that quantitative information about a
subsurface flaw can be obtained from a laser-ultrasonic
source. Unfortunately, laser detection has required the use
of a polished metal surface to reflect sufficient light. This
is normally impractical in an industrial implementation,
and further work is required to improve the sensitivity of
the laser detector, which is presently known to be less
sensitive than most other types of detector.
Acknowledgements
We should like to thank B. Moss for his technical support
during these collaborative experiments. The work was
supported by the Metrology and Standards Requirement
Board of the Department of Trade and Industry.
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Authors
A.M. Aindow, ILJ. D e w h u r s t a n d S.B. P a l m e r are i n the
D e p a r t m e n t o f A p p l i e d Physics, University of H u l l H u l l
HU6 7RX, UK. C.B. Scruby is i n the Materials Physics a n d
Metallurgy Division, A E R E Harwell, O X l l 0RA, UK.
335