Basic Description

The most common method within ultrasonics is the contact method which can be summarized as the following : (1)couplant is applied to the surface in order to transfer the output of the (2)transducer which is connected to an electronic signal generator that produces bursts of alternating voltage, this transducer receives this eletrical burst and converts it to a mechanical wave in the form of ultrasonic waves which will follow a path within the testpiece. If within that path a (3)discontinuity that produces reflective interfaces is found, it will reflect a portion of the energy back to the trasducer wich in turn will convert it back to eletrical energy and sent to an electronic device to amplify and, if necessary, demodulate or otherwise modify the signals . This can seen on a  display or indicating device to characterize or record the output from the testpiece.