=New equipment Ultrasonic inspection system

With nine axes of motion, the general purpose ultrasonic scanning system, GUSS 9, from Rolls-Royce MatEval provides compound scanning of complex composite structures accommodating many geometries in a single automated system.

The digitally controlled turnkey inspection system is designed to inspect contoured, adhesively bonded composite components for delaminations, disbonds, voids and inclusions.

Modular in construction, it consists of the Micropulse 2 inspection control system, a multi-axis bridge-mounted manipulator, and a turntable mounted on a substantial machine base. Features include multiple transducers which record up to 16 peak indications in pulse echo mode and digitized A-scans and RF waveforms in all testing modes, together with colour B, C or D scans. It also has facilities for signal averaging and bonding in through transmission mode, full colour real-time displays with scaling and zoom, histograms, cross-sections and defect sizing.

The system can also be taught using the computer-aided teach and learn package and has full archiving of results for off-line analysis.

Rolls-Royce MatEval Limited, 245/246 Europa Boulevard, Gemini Business Park, West Brook, Warrington WA5 5TN, UK

Absolute ultrasound measurement Optical specialists at AEA Technology have developed what is claimed to be the only commercially available system capable of absolute measurement of ultrasound. I + Plus uses a laser interferometer system to determine accurately the strength

Nine-axis general purpose ultrasonic scanning system from Rolls-Royce MatEval

of the beams produced by ultrasonic transducers.

Ultrasonic fields can be measured accurately over the full frequency range from a few kilohertz to more than a hundred megahertz. Very fast signals can be recorded without distortion. With a spatial resolution down to 10/~m the system outperforms other ultrasonic detectors.

Because the system uses a light beam as a sensor, it makes completely non-contact measurements. It can also be used for remote sensing of materials in a hazardous environment via an optical window. With laser generation of ultrasound it can be used as a non-contact ultrasonic non-destructive testing system.

The interferometer uses an electro-optic cell in a phase-locked system to eliminate the effects of vibration from the surrounding environment. This gives it a level of sensitivity impossible using normal optical sensors even in a controlled laboratory. These features make I+ Plus suitable as a primary ultrasonic calibration standard, and the system has been adopted

by the National Physical Laboratories in the UK, Australia and India. Research laboratories and universities are also using it to develop novel ultrasonic non-destructive testing techniques.

AEA Industrial Technology, Culham Laboratory, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 0X14 3DB, UK

Hand-held thickness meter

Incorporating auto-recognition and automatic zero for transducers, the T-Gage III ultrasonic thickness meter has been launched by Sonatest.

The Microprocessor controlled unit is cased in rigid aluminium alloy with sealed membrane front panel for environmental protection and easy operation. Features not normally found in low cost hand-held meters are:

• Scan mode, allowing areas to be scanned for thinning, corrosion or pitting. LEDs mounted in the transducer indicate coupling (green) and thicknesses below the pre-set

NDT&E International Volume 25 Number 1 1992 49