High Temperature Ultrasonic Testing
Background: Although most ultrasonic flaw detection and thickness gaging is performed at normal environmental temperatures, there are many situations where it is necessary to test a material that is hot. This most commonly happens in process industries, where hot metal pipes or tanks must be tested without shutting them down for cooling, but also includes manufacturing situations involving hot materials, such as extruded plastic pipe or thermally molded plastic immediately after fabrication, or testing of metal ingots or castings before they have fully cooled. Conventional ultrasonic transducers will tolerate temperatures up to approximately 50° C or 125° F. At higher temperatures, they will eventually suffer permanent damage due to internal disbonding caused by thermal expansion. If the material being tested is hotter than approximately 50° C or 125° F, then high temperature transducers and special test techniques should be employed.
This application note contains quick reference information regarding selection of high temperature transducers and couplants, and important factors regarding their use. It covers conventional ultrasonic testing of materials at temperatures up to approximately 500° C or 1000° F. In research applications involving temperatures higher than that, highly specialized waveguide techniques are used. They fall outside the scope of this note.