Quantitative characterization of localized amplitude variations in silicon carbide ceramics using ultrasound C-scan imaging

Ultrasound C-scan imaging is a technique that is utilized to detect and locate inhomogeneities in various materials. One common application is the detection of localized amplitude variations which reflect apparent micro/macro structural inhomogeneties in ceramic materials. A method is being developed for extracting the most distinct variations from bottom surface reflected signal amplitude C-scan images and quantitatively evaluating them in terms of number, size, shape, and proximity. The data are used to determine size distributions for comparison of material integrity. This method is effective in quantitatively contrasting the number and distribution of localized amplitude variations detected in hot pressed silicon carbide (SiC) as compared to sintered SiC While the number and size of significant individual variations detected in sintered SiC is much greater, the size distributions can be fit to same power law function with R ² values of higher than 96% for each data set. Ultrasound detection and size distribution data can prove useful for ceramic material integrity comparison.