110 6 Attenuation of Ultrasonic Waves in Solids

however, another unit is being given preference, viz. the decibel per metre, abbrevi-
ated dB/m. The decibel measure is obtained if in Eq. (6.2) the logarithm to base 10
is used and multiplied by 20:

ad = 20 19 h... dB. (6.2 a)

p

In what follows, a will always be given in the unit decibel per metre (dB/m) be-
cause in the frequency range of interest, and the materials in question, the numeri-
cal values, which usually lie between one and a few hundreds, can be memorised
more easily. For instance, various materials with low attenuation have values from
1.0 to 4.0 dB/m.
According to Bergmann [2] water at 20°C has an absorption for 4 MHz of
3,5 dB/m. The frequency dependence is given by
a = 0.22/2 dB/m with/ expressed in MHz.
The influence of the temperature is negative, the absorption decreasing by 3.2 %per
degree at 20°C. At high ultrasonic powers, as can occur in the pulses of a flaw de-
tector, the absorption can be much higher as a consequence of non-linear stressing
and the onset of cavitation.
If the attenuation coefficient of a given material is 1 dB/mm, the wave is attenuated by a
1-mm-thick layer by approx. 10 %; by a 20-mm layer by approx. 90 %; at 100 mm the attenu-
ation is the 5th power of 10 and the sound pressure is 10- 5 • This would already be a very se-
vere attenuation.
Table 6.1 facilitates the conversion of dB values to ordinary figures. The second
column applies to negative dB values and gives the attenuated amplitude in %: the
third column applies to positive values and gives the gain.

Table 6.1.

dB Attenuated Gain dB Attenuated Gain

amplitude amplitude
in% in%

0.0 100 1.00 10.0 32 3.16

0.5 94.5 1.06 12.0 25 3.98
1.0 89 1.12 14.0 20 5.01
1.5 84 1.19 16.0 15.8 6.31
2.0 79 1.26 18.0 12.6 7.94
2.5 75 1.33 20.0 10.0 10.00
3.0 71 1.41 30.0 3.2 31.62
3.5 67 1.50 40.0 1.0 100.00
4.0 63 1.59 50.0 0.32 316.23
4.5 60 1.68 60.0 0.10 1000.00
5.0 56 1.78 70.0 0.032 3162.30
6.0 50 2.00 80.0 0.010 10000.00
7.0 45 2.24 90.0 0.003 31623.00
8.0 40 2.51 100.0 0.001 100000.00
9.0 35 2.82