Evaluation of Structural Anisotropy in a Porous Titanium Medium Mimicking Trabecular Bone Structure Using Mode-Converted Ultrasonic Scattering

Spatial and directional characterization of wire and arc additive manufactured aluminum alloy using phased array ultrasonic backscattering method

Pores, grains, or textures can collectively cause microstructural inhomogeneity and anisotropy in metallic materials fabricated by additive manufacturing. In this study, a phased array ultrasonic method is developed to characterize the inhomogeneity and anisotropy of wire and arc additively manufactured components by performing both beams focusing and steering. Two backscattering features, i.e., the integrated backscattering intensity and the root mean square of the backscattering signals, are employed to quantify the microstructural inhomogeneity and anisotropy, respectively. An experimental investigation is performed using an aluminum sample fabricated by wire and arc additive manufacturing. The ultrasonic measurements, performed on wire and arc additive manufactured 2319 aluminum alloy, show that the sample is inhomogeneous and weakly anisotropic. Metallography, electron backscatter diffraction, and X-ray computed tomography are used to verify the ultrasonic results. An ultrasonic scattering model is used to identify the influence of grains on the backscattering coefficient. Compared with a wrought aluminum alloy, the complex microstructure in additively manufactured material significantly influence the backscattering coefficient, and the presence of pores cannot be neglected in ultrasonic-based nondestructive evaluation for wire and arc additive manufactured metals.

Characterization of microstructural anisotropy using the mode-converted ultrasonic scattering in titanium alloy

The mode-converted (Longitudinal to Transverse, L-T) ultrasonic scattering was utilized to characterize the microstructural anisotropy on three surfaces of samples cut from the low-scattering and high-scattering regions of a raw titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V billet, respectively. The L-T ultrasonic measurements were performed in two perpendicular directions using two focused transducers with a 15 MHz center frequency in a pitch-catch configuration. The root mean square (RMS) of ultrasonic scattering was calculated for each L-T measurement and a Gaussian function was used to fit each RMS to determine the RMS amplitude. The ratio of RMS amplitudes for L-T measurements performed in two perpendicular directions was calculated to characterize the microstructural anisotropy on the measured surface of a sample. The results show that the amplitude of L-T ultrasonic scattering is highly dependent on the microstructural anisotropy. The microstructural isotropy was considered on the x-y planes of all samples, while the high anisotropy was seen on the x-z and y-z planes of all low-scattering and high-scattering samples. In addition, the microstructural anisotropy measured on the x-z planes of the low-scattering and high-scattering samples gradually increases and decreases, respectively, from the outside diameter (OD) to the centerline (CL) of the billet. The anisotropy measured on the y-z planes of the low-scattering samples slightly decreases and then increases towards the center, while the anisotropy measured on the y-z planes of the high-scattering samples continuously increases towards the center. The variation of microstructural anisotropy in the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V billet with duplex microstructure was quantified with the L-T ultrasonic method and the results agree well with micrographs shown in Ref. [18]. The mode-converted ultrasonic scattering method provides a NDE method to characterize microstructural anisotropy, which can be used as an NDE tool for quality control.

In Vivo Assessment of Pulmonary Fibrosis and Pulmonary Edema in Rodents Using Ultrasound Multiple Scattering

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) affects 200 000 patients in the United States of America. IPF is responsible for changes in the micro-architecture of the lung parenchyma, such as thickening of the alveolar walls, which reduces compliance and elasticity. In this study, we verify the hypothesis that changes in the microarchitecture of the lung parenchyma can be characterized by exploiting multiple scattering of ultrasound waves by the alveolar structure. Ultrasound propagation in a highly scattering regime follows a diffusion process, which can be characterized using the diffusion constant. We hypothesize that in a fibrotic lung, the thickening of the alveolar wall reduces the amount of air (compared with a healthy lung), thereby minimizing the scattering events. Pulmonary fibrosis is created in Sprague-Dawley rats by instilling bleomycin into the airway. The rats are studied within 3 weeks after bleomycin administration. Using a 128-element linear array transducer operating at 7.8 MHz, in vivo experimental data are obtained from Sprague-Dawley rats and the transport mean free path (L*) and backscatter frequency shift (BFS) are evaluated. Significant differences ( ) in the L* values between control and fibrotic rats and in the BFS values between fibrotic and edematous rats showcase the potential of these parameters for diagnosis and monitoring of IPF.