Ultrasonic Imaging Lab

Acoustic Scanning Microscope Capable of operating at frequencies as high as 300 MHz, the acoustic scanning microscope is an invaluable tool to characterize the microstructure of non-transparent materials. A key advantage of acoustic microscopes compared to the optical ones is the possibility of focusing inside the bulk of a specimen at great depth. This is particularly important to detect subsurface defects and to assess bonding condition at the interface between different materials.
Acoustic Transmission Scanning Microscope Based on a custom design, the system has been developed to inspect ceramic matrix composites. In addition to the functions of a standard acoustic microscope, the system has been designed to map ultrasonic velocity and attenuation distributions in complex materials.
Laser Interferometer With a 24MHz bandwidth the Polytec vibrometer is ideal to perform single point velocity measurements in a non-contact fashion for modal analysis testing and ultrasonic applications. A set of mirrors mounted on the laser head allows beam steering for rapid surface scans. We use an air floating optical table for high accuracy measurements in which we need to isolate the test specimen from environmental noise.
Nd:Yag Pulsed Laser We use the laser to excite high frequency ultrasonic waves in a non-contact fashion. Excitation is achieved with a 50 Hz repetition frequency. With the basic mode of operation the pulse energy is 150 mJ at 1064 nm wavelength. With second and third harmonic generation we can operate the laser at 532 and 355 nm wavelength, respectively.
Creaform Laser Scanner A metrology-grade scanner for high resolution 3D measurements of the geometry of physical objects. The scanner is complemented by our in-house software that measures wall thickness losses in pipe bends and other complex geometries with high precision.
128-Channel Array Controller A state-of-the-art clinical system for ultrasonic imaging with access to raw waveforms, the SonixTouch is ideal to develop new imaging algorithm. Although the system has been developed for medical applications it can drive NDE ultrasonic probes with up to 128 independent channels and 40MHz sampling rate. A full matrix capture (128X128 signals) can be acquired in under one second.
256-Channel Array Controller A research array controller with 256 parallel channels for rapid data capture. With one DAC per channel, the system can transmit complex wavefields such as those used in time reversal experiments. The large channel count is desirable for phased array testing with matrix arrays.
Phased Array Probes In addition to an extensive selection of single element ultrasonic probes for both immersion and contact inspections USIL features a broad range of linear and matrix array probes. The arrays cover the frequency range from 2 to 10 MHz and have element count varying from 128 to 256.
Microwave Network Analyzer The AT-N5227A PNA network analyzer covers the frequency range from 10 MHz to 67 GHz. The system is completed with calibrations kits for low and high frequency measurements and waveguides to perform S11 and S12 parameter measurements. The time domain reflectometry optional function allows us to display microwave measurements in the form of echograms.
Infrared Camera The FLIR SC6000 is a science-grade infrared camera used to map temperature distributions with 640X512 resolution from -20°C to 500°C. Thanks to its high sensitivity the camera is ideal for NDE techniques such as thermography and thermo-sonics.