A study of the noncollinear ultrasonic-wave-mixing technique under imperfect resonance conditions.

Geometrical and material property changes cause deviations in the resonant conditions used for noncollinear wave mixing. These deviations are predicted and observed using the SV(ω1)+L(ω2)→L(ω1+ω2) interaction, where SV and L are the shear vertical and longitudinal waves, respectively, and ω1, ω2 are their frequencies. Numerical predictions, performed for the scattered secondary field in the far field zone, show three field features of imperfect resonance conditions: (1) rotation of a scattered beam, (2) decrease in the beam amplitude, and (3) beam splitting. The response of the nonlinear ultrasonic wave mixing technique is verified experimentally in two ways: (1) detection of a kissing bond between two polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plates, and (2) detection of subsurface micro-cracks in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). A predominant decrease in nonlinear wave energy is observed in both experiments. Beam rotation and splitting is observed in the kissing-bond experiment, while a minor increase in the nonlinear wave energy up to 100% is observed in the micro-cracked PMMA specimen.