Appendix 1

Stress Calibration

For the ultrasonic fatigue machines to work correctly, stress calibration is necessary. The rst objective of the calibration is to make the test system vibrate in resonance at ultrasonic frequency of about 20 kHz. Among the important factors of concern is the variation of Youngs modulus of the material due to the high frequency or non-uniform temperatures. Although some measures for calibration have been mentioned in previous sections, it is necessary to present, in this appendix, the detailed calibration procedures for the low temperature test system described earlier. The principles for the calibration of machines operated at room temperature are the same; those procedures will be simpler. The mechanical system works in an elastic regime. The relationships between displacement, strain, and stress are therefore linear. The electrical voltage applied to the piezoceramic is also linear and proportional to the displacement. The electrical current density depends on the impedance, the dynamic mechanical resistance of the equipment xed in the converter. For these reasons, we use a J2 type generator

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

260

Appendix 1

connector that permits us to know the displacement amplitude and the output power. The measures required at low temperatures are more involved. One solution may be to use an accelerometer installed at the end of the converter and to calibrate its signal with an optical displacement sensor. Before using this signal, we must convert the sinusoidal wave to a DC voltage. However, since we have the driving voltage to the piezo-ceramic that is already a signal proportional to the displacement amplitude, utilization of this signal will be a simpler and more practical solution. This solution is better than the introduction of an accelerometer, especially since the signal is proper and the additional installation of an apparatus (the accelerometer) will be avoided. Furthermore, for the accelerometer, the linear relation between this signal and the displacement in the specimens head, is unknown because of the electrical chain. Therefore, calibration is required. A1.1. AMPLIFYING HORN

As the displacement amplitude of the converter is limited, the role of the cone shape (amplifying horn) is very important in order to increase the displacement of the specimen and thus to raise its stress to the required level. There are two antinodes and one node in the displacement distribution of the cone (Figure A1.1). The amplication factor Fampl is dened as   V1    V  2 Generally, a numerical analysis such as FEM is needed to obtain the correct geometry of the horn incorporating the effects of the temperature gradient and the variation of the elastic modulus. The temperature of the horn may be reasonably assumed to vary linearly between two end values of 20 K and T0, the temperatures of the cryostat and ambient air, respectively, as shown in Figure A1.2.
Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Calibration

261

Figure A1.1 Displacement distribution of amplifying horn (horn 1).

Figure A1.2 Temperature eld of amplifying horn.

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

262

Appendix 1

Figure A1.3

Dimensions of the second horn (horn 2).

The amplication factor of the rst horn (horn 1) shown in Figure A1.2 is 3.52 at room temperature, 3.42 in liquid nitrogen, and 3.40 in liquid helium. Horn 1 works well at ambient temperature and in liquid nitrogen with or without specimen. Meanwhile, the cone can only produce a maximum stress of about 500 MPa. A second horn design is shown in Figure A1.3, which is capable of developing stress between 650 MPa and 1300 MPa. Horn 2 gives an amplication factor Fampl 8.93 in nitrogen and 8.98 in helium. A1.2. FIRST CALIBRATION

The driving electrical voltage and power is supplied by a Branson power source, and the rst measurement is carried out with an IBM PC computer. Since horn 2 joined with the fatigue life specimen, does not vibrate at ambient temperature, horn 1 must be used. Figure A1.4 gives the measured signal in response to the input signal; i.e., the voltage in plug 8. The open points are the values measured from the optical sensor, and the full points are those from plug 9. The linearity is practically perfect. Figure A1.5 presents the relation between the signal of plug 9 in the connector J2 and the signal of the sensor for horn 1 at ambient temperature. This relation can be
Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Calibration

263

Figure A1.4 Response to input signal.

expressed by the equation Uc1 2:57 4:146 Vm A1:1

where Uc1 is the measured displacement of the rst horn by the sensor, and Vm is the voltage of plug 9. The symmetry of the specimen, which implies identical displacement amplitudes on two sides, has been taken into account. The voltage applied to the ceramic imposes a displacement at the end of the converter. For a given temperature, this displacement must be constant. In a CNAM=ITMA test in liquid nitrogen,

Figure A1.5 Measured amplitude of signal.

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

264

Appendix 1

the temperature of the converter is above 0 C, because this part does not freeze immediately after the removal of the cryostat. Therefore, we consider that the displacement in the converter is constant for a given electrical applied voltage, whatever the mechanical load may be. Based on the preceding analyses, the amplitudes of displacement and stress are determined for horn 2 by the simple calculation, as follows: Uc2 8:93 Uc1 3:52 A1:2a A1:2b

s2 16:2Uc2 105:66 170:54 Vm

Here, the value 8.93 is the amplication factor of horn 2 at low temperatures, and 3.52 is that of horn 1 at room temperature. For material Ti6A4VPQ, one micron of displacement corresponds to a stress of 16.2 MPa. Therefore the stress is calculated by Eq. A1.2b using Eqs. A1.1 and A1.2. The constant 105.66 in this equation comes from the electronics or the adjustment of the A=D card. In other words, the initial voltage is about 0.5 volt without vibration. The curve of input stress-signal in Figure A1.6 is employed in the control program to guarantee good convergence.

Figure A1.6

Stress versus signal.

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Calibration

265

A1.3.

SECOND CALIBRATION

With a computer PC486DX33 and a high-performance Keithley card, we have carried out another calibration at ambient temperature. The optical sensor measures the displacement amplitude at the specimens head and a strain gauge mounted on the specimens center measures the strain there. The Ti6A4V specimen used is a uniform cylindrical bar with 124.72 mm in length. The two amplifying horns work at ambient temperature, which permits us to verify the stress for the two horns. With the strain values of the specimens center measured by the gauge and the displacement in the head measured by the optical sensor, the strain along the specimen can be calculated. The results are as follows. Horn 1. The amplication factor Fampl is 3.52. Displacement measured by the sensor Um 17:4 mm; Um 35:4 mm; at 50% power at 100% power

Subscript m indicates measured value, and subscript c for calculated value in the following. Strain in specimen center (calculated value) 2pf ec p Um 25:19Um E=r A1:3

with f 20 kHz, E 110 GPa, and r 4420 kg=m3. Substituting measured values, we have ec Um 17:4 mm 438:3 m; ec Um 35:4 mm 891:2 m; at 50% power at 100% power

Strain in specimen center (measured by the gauge) em 2 1000 Vm m K V1000 A1:4

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

266

Appendix 1

where K 2.055 is the gauge factor, and V1000 2.6 volts is the voltage of calibration at 1000 m of strain. Similarly, substituting measured values, we have em Vm 1:2 V 449:2 m; em Vm 2:4 V 898:4 m; at 50% power at 100% power

Horn 2. The amplication factor Fampl is 9.16. Displacement measured by the sensor Um 43:4 mm at 50% power Um 84:4 mm at 100% power Strain in specimen center (calculated value) ec Um 43:4 mm 1093 m; at 50% power ec Um 84:4 mm 2126 m at 100% power Strain in specimen center (measured by the gauge and with V1000 1.56 volts) em Vm 1:8 V 1123 m; em Vm 3:56 V 2221 m; at 50% power at 100% power

The results are summarized in Table A1.1 This verication is satisfactory. Note that the difference of strains from the measurement of the gauge and the calculation, starting from the values measured by the optical sensor, is about 2%. This demonstrates that the optical displacement sensor and the strain gauges used are reliable in the vibration environment of 20 kHz, and the stress distribution in the antinodes is good. We can also see that the measurements at 100% power are close to twice those at 50% power. The strain gauge measurements give the best results. The measurements show that the ratio of vibration between horns 1 and 2 is 2.45 on the average, while the calculated ratio is 2.6. The difference between them is about 6%.
Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Calibration

Table A1.1

Results of Second Calibration

Fampl Um (50%) 17.4 mm 43.4 mm 2.494 Um (100%) 35.4 mm 84.4 mm 2.384 ec (50%) 438.3 m 1093 m 2.494 ec (100%) 891.2 m 2126 m 2.386 em (50%) 449.2 m 1123 m 2.500 em (100%) 898.4 m 2221 m 2.472

Horn 1 Horn 2 No. 2=No. 1

3.52 9.16 2.602

267

268

Appendix 1

From these measurements, the stress can be calibrated in accordance with the voltage of plug 9 in connector J2 that is 5 volts at 50% power and 10 volts at 100% power. This voltage is proportional to the displacement amplitude of the horn (at point C of Figure 3.11) and does not depend on load. Taking account of the linearity, we only consider the state at 100% power in the following discussion. The converter is always at ambient temperature; that is to say, the amplitude is constant at a given power. This displacement amplitude is denoted by UC. With the measurement of the gauge at room temperature, the displacement can be calculated at the head of the specimen (at point A of Figure 3.11). The values are 35.6 mm and 88.6 mm for horns 1 and 2, respectively, both at 100% power. Because the displacement of point B in Figure 3.11 is the same as that of point A, horn 1 also gives an amplitude value of 35.6 mm, and horn 2 gives 88.6 mm at 100% power. These values are independent of the specimens. At low temperatures, the amplifying horns are more rigid because their elastic moduli increases. Consequently the amplication factor decreases slightly. Since UC is constant, we have     UB UB A1:5 UC Fampl ambient Fampl cold Using a superscript c for cold, we obtain   UB c c UB Fampl Fampl ambient

A1:6

Formula A1.6 can be used to include the inuence of temperature of the horns. c c Having obtained UB (identical to UA ), we are able to determine the stress in the specimen. The stress depends on the geometry of the specimen and the elastic modulus of the material. The related formulas are available in Chapter 2, both for a cylindrical bar and an endurance (fatigue life) specimen with a longitudinal prole of hyperbolic cosine in the central portion.
Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Calibration

269

A1.4.

THIRD CALIBRATION

In the above, the verication of the calculations has been made for ambient temperature. To know the behavior of the machine at low temperatures, several gauges are mounted on the cylindrical specimen of TA6VPQ. Theoretically, the strain is of a sinusoidal function with the maximum in the center and the minimum at two ends. For this reason, we mount ve small gauges (gauge length, 1.57 mm) in the central region, and three long gauges (3.18 mm) in the zone of small strain. Another specimen of Ti-6A4VPQ is also tested where a gauge is used to compensate temperature effect. The resistance of the gauge is 350 O. During the measurement, the two specimens are soaked in liquid nitrogen. The compensation gauge is linked to the demi-bridge. The results of the calculations are compared with the measurements at low temperature to verify the vibration mode analysis. Material Ti-6A4VPQ was supplied by an industrial company. The static Youngs modulus at 77 K is 128 GPa. This yields a resonance length of 134.5 mm at 20 kHz. But the test machine did not vibrate in resonance under these conditions. Only when the specimen was shortened by 3 mm did the system vibrate in liquid nitrogen. This shows the real modulus is lower than 122.4 GPa. The measurements of strain start after the cooling of the two specimens. For horn 2, the signal from gauges is quite sinusoidal and the measurements give good results as shown in Figure A1.7. The differences between the results of calculations and the measurements by the four gauges are about 5%. The measurements verify that the antinodes of stress are situated within 0 to 5 mm from the specimen center. Although these tests are performed at 50% power from the ultrasonic generator, the gauges wires broke one after another because of acceleration. This is the reason that only a small number of results have been obtained. Figure A1.8 shows the strain values measured by gauges for two horns at various levels of power. (Note: This gure was shown in a simplied form as Figure 3.12.) The measurement points lie very close to the straight line, em ec. For
Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

270

Appendix 1

Figure A1.7

Results measured by gauges.

horn 1, the largest error is 7.7% at high power. For horn 2, the error is 5.1% at 50 power, the same value as that of the previous test (Figure A1.7). Other points in Figure A1.8 are well aligned and the error is lower than 2%.

Figure A1.8 and 2.

Measurements and calculations of strain for horns 1

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.

Stress Calibration

271

From the calibration results, we can conclude that the concept and the design of the test system is adequate. The machine can be satisfactorily used to determine stress levels with about 95% accuracy. The test results will be presented in the other chapters. (Wu, 1992) presents calibration procedures of an ultrasonic fatigue machine working at high temperatures.

Copyright 2005 by Marcel Dekker. All Rights Reserved.