Texture Measurement of Sheet Metals
As sheet metal is manufactured, usually by rolling from slab, the processes that it undergoes impart anisotropic crystallographic texture: net crystallographic orientation to the polycrystalline metal sheet. Along with other parameters, texture has an effect on the formability of the metal which determines its suitability for various further manufacturing processes. Previously, determination of this metallurgical texture has been performed by X-ray pole figure analysis, and now increasingly by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). These processes typically take several hours, and involve the removal of sample sections of the metal.
By using an ultrasonic technique based on Lamb waves, we can measure the anisotropy of a sheet of metal in less than half a minute at maximum speed. The use of non-contact EMAT transducers also allows the on-line installation of texture measurement systems.
Sonemat is currently developing a fully functional prototype demonstrator of the texture measurement system. Provisionally titled the TE 100 TextEmat system we expect to have the prototype ready for travelling demonstration by late March. More information will be added here as the project nears completion.
Ultrasonic Texture Measurement Advantages:
- Non Contact - so suitable for on-line and rapid deployment
- Non Destructive
- Fast, can determine texture in seconds-minutes
- Averages over a volume so insensitive to local inhomogeneity
Prototype in Development: the TE100:
Examples of our data and software interface:
Simple acquisition, simulation of pole figures from ultrasound data.
The science behind ultrasonic texture measurement.
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Detailed specification - Texture Measurement of Sheet Metals
