Verification of the Kramers-Kronig relations between ultrasonic attenuation and phase velocity in a finite spectral range for CFRP composites.

The aim of this work is to verify applicability of the Kramers-Kronig relations between the attenuation coefficient and phase velocity of longitudinal acoustic waves in carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites in a finite megahertz frequency range. To measure these characteristics, the method of broadband acoustic spectroscopy with a laser source of ultrasound is used. We have experimentally shown that absolute attenuation in CFRPs is determined by both absorption in a polymer matrix and scattering on carbon fibers and gas pores of several tenths of microns in size. We have also found that the increasing composite porosity leads to the decrease in the absolute value of the ultrasonic velocity and to the increase in its relative dispersion in the entire studied frequency range of 1-10 MHz. The experimental results have shown that for the studied CFRPs in this range, features of the mechanism causing attenuation and dispersion of longitudinal acoustic waves by propagation in composites do not influence on applicability of the local Kramers-Kronig relations.