142 8 Other Methods for Transmitting and Receiving Ultrasound

put signal can be produced only by acoustic pulses coming from the workpiece con-
cerned. Here, a receiver using an induction coil would be unsuitable because in
practice it is impossible to decouple magnetically the transmitting and the receiv-
ing coil.
In the following all possible physical effects suitable for transmitting and receiv-
ing ultrasound for the testing of materials will be discussed and the probes which
utilize these effects will be analysed.

8.1 Mechanical Effects

The direct mechanical generation of sound, although not contactless, requires no

coupling liquid. Sound can be produced in a body by mechanical shock or friction.
This phenomenon, well known in the audible range, produces a wide frequency
spectrum with portions in the megahertz range. The spectrum depends on the
shape, size and material of the objects exposed to the shock. All types of waves are
generated, most effectively in the range from 100 kHz to 1 MHz. Therefore are such
methods can be used for testing concrete, cast iron and similar materials. When
testing concrete (cf. Section 32.5) electromechanical hammers are used as transmit-
ters. For the excitation in glued honeycomb structures rotating wire brushes have
also been used [593].
For reception the effect of the sound radiation pressure in liquids (see Section
1.3) can be exploited. A receiver which uses this principle and which has found
some application is the Pohlman cell [2]. However, compared with the conventional
probes, it requires considerable sound amplitudes and a long response time (see
Section 13.9).
Pressure-sensitive liquid crystals also permit the reception of sound since their
optical activity (rotating the plane of polarization of transmitted light) is pressure
sensitive.

8.2 Thermal Effects and Laser Techniques

for the Generation of Ultrasound

By heating the surface of a body suddenly ("heat shock") the thermal expansion of
the material produces mechanical stresses and these initiate sound waves. If the
heating is of very short duration (lasting approx. 10 ns), very high frequencies and
shock waves can be produced. This requires the thickness of the heated layer to be
small compared with the wavelength of the sound [552, 1749, 1616]. All kinds of
sound waves are generated.
The required energy is beamed onto the surface of the object concerned and
this can be realized in two ways:
1. By electromagnetic waves (microwaves, infrared, visible and ultraviolet light);
2. By corpuscular radiation (electron beams)