ULTRASONIC COUPLANTS

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BY: NIKESH RANJAN 08BEI046

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INTRODUCTION Ultrasonic couplants are used in virtually all contact testing applications to facilitate the transmission of sound energy between the transducer and the test piece. Couplants will typically be viscous, nontoxic liquids, gels, or pastes. 4/15/12

USE Their use is necessary because sound energy at the ultrasonic frequencies typically used for nondestructive testing is not effectively transmitted through air. Aside from attenuation effects, air represents a severe acoustic impedance mismatch with respect to both transducer wearplates and typical test materials.

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APPLICATION A number of common substances such as water, motor oil, grease, and even some commercial products like hair gel can be used as ultrasonic couplants in many applications. However, for best results in high temperature and normal incidence shear wave testing it is necessary to use specially formulated couplants, and 4/15/12 testing in the nuclear industry

The Panametrics-NDT line of ultrasonic couplants includes seven different products optimized for different applications. A description of each follows, listed according to their Panametrics-NDT part code.

COUPLANT A - PROPYLENE GLYCOL Propylene glycol is a good general purpose couplant that is often used in ambient temperature thickness gaging applications on smooth surfaces. It has 4/15/12

COUPLANT B GLYCERIN Glycerin's advantage is that it is more viscous and has a higher acoustic impedance, making it the preferred couplant for rough surfaces and highly attenuating materials. COUPLANT C - SILICONE OIL Silicone oil is preferred by some inspectors who are doing angle beam testing as a couplant between the transducer and the wedge. Because it does not evaporate and is insoluble in 4/15/12

COUPLANT D GEL Gel type couplants are often recommended for rough surfaces such as sand-cast metals and fiberglass layups, where their high viscosity and relatively high acoustic impedance will maximize sound coupling in a situation where the transducer cannot make smooth contact with the test surface. COUPLANT E ULTRATHERM Ultrasonic testing at high temperatures requires specially 4/15/12 formulated couplants that will remain

COUPLANT F - MEDIUM TEMPERATURE COUPLANT This product has been replaced by Couplant G, which offers superior performance. COUPLANT G - MEDIUM TEMPERATURE COUPLANT Couplant G is a non-toxic, biodegradable gel that is particularly recommended for testing parts that are too hot for ambient temperature couplants, but not hot enough to 4/15/12