Imaging Microstructure on Optically Rough Surfaces Using Spatially Resolved Acoustic Spectroscopy

Measurement of material microstructure on industrially relevant surface finishes.The microstructure of a material defines many of its mechanical properties. Tracking the microstructure of parts during their manufacturing is needed to ensure the designed performance can be obtained, especially for additively manufactured parts. Measuring the microstructure non-destructively on real parts is challenging for optical techniques such as laser ultrasound, as the optically rough surface impacts the ability to generate and detect acoustic waves. Spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy can be used to measure the microstructure, and this paper presents the capability on a range of surface finishes. We discuss how to describe 'roughness' and how this influences the measurements. We demonstrate that measurements can be made on surfaces with R-a up to 28 mu m for a selection of roughness comparators. Velocity images on a range of real surface finishes, including machined, etched, and additively manufactured finishes in an as-deposited state, are presented. We conclude that the R-a is a poor descriptor for the ability to perform measurements as the correlation length of the roughness has a large impact on the ability to detected the surface waves. Despite this issue, a wide range of real industrially relevant surface conditions can be measured.

Automated summary

This paper presents a method for measuring the microstructure of industrially relevant surface finishes. Spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy is used to measure the microstructure, and the influence of surface roughness on the measurements is discussed. It is demonstrated that a wide range of surface finishes can be measured, but the correlation length of the roughness has a significant impact on the ability to detect surface waves.