Section 1.3.4.6.3. Pulse-echo techniques

Pulse-echo techniques are valid for transparent and opaque materials. They are currently used for measuring ultrasonic velocities in solids and can be used in very simple as well as in sophisticated versions according to the required precision (McSkimmin, 1964). In the simplest version (Fig. 1.3.4.2), an electronic pulse generator excites the mechanical vibrations of a piezo-electric transducer glued to one of two plane-parallel faces of a specimen. An ultrasonic pulse whose duration is of the order of a microsecond is generated and transmitted through the specimen. After reflection at the opposite face, it returns and, when it arrives back at the transducer, it gives rise to an electronic signal, or echo. The whole sequence of such echos is displayed on the screen of an oscilloscope and it is possible to measure from them the time interval for transit. Usually, X-cut quartz crystals or ferroelectric ceramics are used to excite longitudinal waves and Y-cut quartz is used to excite transverse waves. In many cases, a circulator, or gate, is used to protect the receiver from saturation following the main `bang'. This method is rough because the beginning and the end of a pulse are not well characterized. Several improvements have therefore been made, mainly based on interferometric techniques (pulse-superposition method, `sing around' method etc.). Nevertheless, if the absolute value of the ultrasonic velocity is not determined with a high accuracy by using pulse-echo techniques, this approach has proved valuable when relative values of ultrasonic velocities are needed, e.g. temperature and pressure dependences of ultrasonic velocities.