NDE Facilities

This page shows a list of the facilities and equipment available at the center. State of the art ultrasound and NDE equipment includes:

• Numerous ultrasonic systems for A, B and C scanning ·
• Large ultrasonic C-scanning system for material samples (2ft x 2ft)
• Flash radiography and infrared imaging systems ·
• High frequency scanning acoustic microscope for QA
• Wide variety of ultrasonic transducers for material sample inspection (0.5 to 150 Mhz)
• Unique, high-speed signal processing instrumentation ·
• Multi-channel ultrasonic systems for rapid material scanning
• High power ultrasonics for cleaning and materials processing
• Acoustic emission instrumentation for materials testing·
• Other instrumentation of the University of Denver (FTIR, SEM, IR, etc)

Ultrasonics & NDE Scanning Systems for Materials Quality Assurance

1. Develop novel methods for high-resolution ultrasonic NDE inspection of manufactured parts
2. Provide critical defect characterization and rate-of-occurrence information for quality control
3. Evaluate the behavior of advanced materials being developed for a wide range of applications and systems
4. Characterize metallic, non-metallic and composite materials that are in the process of development

• Test measurement data can be collected with A-scan, B-scan or C-scan system for material samples up to two feet in size. ·
• All systems can be easily configured for pulse-echo, pitch-catch, or through transmission operational modes using a wide variety of ultrasonic transducers.
• Multiple gates are software selectable for data collection of flaws, part thickness, fiber orientation, material velocity etc.
• Unique software for modeling ultrasonic sensitivity to material defects, and confirming these models using experimental scanning
• Digitizing oscilloscope with a rate up to 100 megasamples per second
• Ultrasonic frequencies up to 25 MHz
• Spatial resolution in all axes to 0.001 inch ( 25.4 um)

A composite material specimen is positioned in the immersion tank for large objects. This high- resolution ultrasonic scanning system enables Inspection of a broad variety of specimens while maintaining high positioning accuracy in the region of interest.

Scanning Acoustic Microscope

Develop advanced, high-resolution NDE materials characterization methods, using scanning acoustic microscopy. The laboratory's high precision Scanning Acoustic Microscope (SAM) utilizes frequency ultrasonic waves (200 MHz) and high scanning resolution to provide exacting inspection and evaluation of a wide range of industrial materials.

• Acoustic imaging of surface and subsurface features and characteristics in a broad range of metals, alloys, and organic matrix composites, as well as ceramic matrix composites
• Inspection and characterization of thin films
• Measurement of defects and bonds in electronic materials (esp. flip chips)
• Detection of flaws in manufactured materials
• Local elastic modulus measurements
• Microscopic internal defect characterization
• Fiber / matrix interface characterization in composites

Fine tuning a material characterization test in the high precision Scanning Acoustic Microscope. The 3-axis motorized scanning system provides a half-micron step to produce images used to characterize new materials.