Diffraction, attenuation, and source corrections for nonlinear Rayleigh wave ultrasonic measurements.

This research considers the effects of diffraction, attenuation, and the nonlinearity of generating sources on measurements of nonlinear ultrasonic Rayleigh wave propagation. A new theoretical framework for correcting measurements made with air-coupled and contact piezoelectric receivers for the aforementioned effects is provided based on analytical models and experimental considerations. A method for extracting the nonlinearity parameter β11 is proposed based on a nonlinear least squares curve-fitting algorithm that is tailored for Rayleigh wave measurements. Quantitative experiments are conducted to confirm the predictions for the nonlinearity of the piezoelectric source and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the curve-fitting procedure. These experiments are conducted on aluminum 2024 and 7075 specimens and a β11(7075)/β11(2024) measure of 1.363 agrees well with previous literature and earlier work. The proposed work is also applied to a set of 2205 duplex stainless steel specimens that underwent various degrees of heat-treatment over 24h, and the results improve upon conclusions drawn from previous analysis.