TIME OF FLIGHT DIFFRACTION ULTRASONIC

TESTING

1. Introduction.
2. TOFD Vs. conventional pulse echo ultrasonic testing
technique.
3. Diffraction.
4. TOFD principles.
5. Depth calculation for Time of Flight Diffraction Ultrasonic
Testing Technique.
6. Time of Flight Diffraction Testing Reference Standards.
7. Time of Flight Diffraction Testing for welding
discontinuities.
8. Limitation of Time of Flight Diffraction Testing.
1.0 Introduction.
 Time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) technique is an ultrasonic NDT
technique which was first described by Silk (1977).

 This method relies on the diffraction of ultrasonic energies from

'corners' and 'ends' of internal structures (primarily defects) in a
component being tested.

 When a sound wave collides on an imperfection, another soundwave

is generated by diffraction. These sound waves travel in all
directions. Based on the detection of these sound waves, an image is
generated.

TOFD Vs Conventional Ultrasonic Testing:

 Conventional – ‘Pulse Echo’ ultrasonic testing is based on Snell’s

laws.
INCIDENT REFLECTED RAY
RAY
i 

REFRACTED
 RAY

 The incident ray, the refracted ray and normal to the surface of
separation of two media lie in one plane.
 The angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflection.
 For any two media, the ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine
of angle of refraction is constant and is depends on the ratio of
velocity of two respective medium.
sin i = sin 
v1 v2
In normal beam examination of plate, at back surface of the plate, as per Snell’s
law ‘the angle of incidence equals to angle of reflection’. Hence the ultrasonic
waves are returning back to the search unit and hence indication will be obtained
on screed.

Sound Region Lamination

Intitial Pulse Back Wall
“A” Echo.

In normal beam examination of plate, at discontinuity, as per Snell’s law ‘the angle
of incidence equals to angle of reflection’. Hence the ultrasonic waves are
returning back to the search unit and hence indication will be obtained on screed.

Sound Region Lamination

Intitial Discontinuity Reduction
Pulse Indication B.W. Echo.
In angle beam examination of weld, if the discontinuity orientation is normal to
the direction of propagation of ultrasonic waves, then reflected sound waves will
return to the search unit and discontinuity indication will be obtained on the
screen.

Intitial Discontinuity
Pulse Indication

If the discontinuity orientation is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of

waves, ultrasonic rays will be reflected as per Snell’s law but will not return to the
probe and hence no indication will be obtained.

Intitial No Discontinuity
Pulse Indication
To detect the discontinuity, oriented normal to the direction of propagation of
waves, either through transmission technique or tandom technique is used.

THOROUGH TRANSMISSION TECHNIQUE:

The limitation of through transmission technique is that it will not give idea about
the depth of the discontinuity.

PIT-CATCH TECHNIQUE:

The above-mentioned discontinuity can be detected by tandem technique or pitch

catch technique; i.e. by placing two search-unites.

For higher thickness, number of scans are required to examine entire volume.
DIFFRACTION:

Diffraction is the spreading or bending of waves as they pass through an

aperture or round edge of the barrier.

Crack Tip Diffraction

When the geometry of the part is relatively uncomplicated and the orientation of a
flaw is well known, the length (a) of a crack can be determined by a technique
known as tip diffraction. One common application of the tip diffraction technique
is to determine the length of a crack originating from on the backside of a flat plate
as shown below. In this case, when an angle beam transducer is scanned over the
area of the flaw, the principle echo comes from the base of the crack to locate the
position of the flaw (Image 1). A second, much weaker echo comes from the tip of
the crack and since the distance traveled by the ultrasound is less, the second
signal appears earlier in time on the scope (Image 2).

Crack height (a) is a function of the ultrasound velocity (v) in the material, the
incident angle  and the difference in arrival times between the two signal (dt).
Since the incident angle and the thickness of the material is the same in both
measurements, two similar right triangle are formed such that one can be
overlayed on the other. A third similar right triangle is made, which is comprised
on the crack, the length dt and the angle The variable dt is really the difference
in time but can easily be converted to a distance by dividing the time in half (to get
the one-way travel time) and multiplying this value by the velocity of the sound in
the material. Using trigonometry an equation for estimating crack height from
these variables can be derived as shown below.

Solving for "a" the equation becomes

The equation is complete once distance dt is calculated by dividing the difference in time
between the two signals (dt) by two and multiplying this value by the sound velocity.
TIME OF FLIGHT DIFFRACTION ULTRASONIC TESTING:
When ultrasound is incident at linear discontinuity such as a crack, diffraction
takes place at its extremities in addition to the normal reflected wave. This
diffracted energy is emitted over a wide angular range and is assumed to originate
at the extremities of the flaw (Fig.1). This is in marked contrast with conventional
ultrasonic, which relies on the amount of energy reflected by discontinuities.

Figure -A

Incident Ray Diffracted Ray (Top)

Thorough transmitted
Ray
Reflacted Ray Diffracted
Ray (Bottom)

In above figure, when the incident ray strikes the discontinuity, part of the rays
will be reflected, part of the rays will follow through transmission method, and
part of the rays will be diffracted from the top edge and bottom edge of the
discontinuity. TOFD involves detection of these diffracted rays from the
discontinuity tips.

In addition to energies diffracted by defects, the TOFD method will also detect a
surface (lateral) wave traveling directly between the probes and also a backwall
echo from energies that reach the back of the test piece without interference from
defects.
Two angle beam probes are placed as a transmitter-receiver arrangement. The
distance of the probes is calculated according to the wall thickness generally one
full skip distance.
Longitudinal waves are usually used.

In TOFD un-rectified A-scan image is used. The A-scan shows the lateral wave
echo, the back wall echoes and diffracted signals from discontinuity tips.

SCANNING FOR TIME OF FLIGHT DIFFRACTION ULTRASONIC

TESTING:
TOFD will be represented as the B-Scan image generated by horizontal probe
movement and sound time of flight in a vertical direction. The echo amplitude is
displayed as gray scale, usually zero amplitude light gray (negative maximum
amplitude black, positive maximum amplitude white).
For weld testing it is important to notice that the probes are aligned transversal to
the weld, while the image is generated in the direction of the weld. That means the
image projection stands perpendicular to the probe projection .
Usually longitudinal probes are applied with an angle of incidence range of 45° to
70°. The diffracted signals are received via the receiver probe and are evaluated
with the Ultrasonic System to B-scan images.

There may be two kind of B-scan images (data collection) performed by scanning
the probe pair:
1.0 Normal to the direction of the beam along a weld or flaw. That B-scan result
is used to locate and size flaws (Fig. 3 top).
It is also known as linear, non-parallel or longitudinal scan.

2.0 In the direction of the beam transversely across a weld or flaw (Fig.3
bottom). That B-scan result is used to size flaws.
It is also known as transverse, parallel or lateral scan.

Flaw Sizing
For crack orientation in direction vertical to the surface the size and depth can be
evaluated. A typical figure for the accuracy that may be achieved is 1 mm. It is assumed
that the ultrasonic energy enters and leaves the specimen at fixed points under the probes
and separated by a distance 2S (see Fig. 4).
This is a simplification of the true situation but is sufficient accurate for many purpose.
The time, T, taken for the ultrasonic energy to interact with a flaw tip at D and return to
the specimen is then given by:

V T= {d2 + (S - X) 2}1/2 + {d2 + (S + X) 2}1/2 (1)

V = the ultrasonic velocity

T = time
d = the depth of D below the specimen surface
X = the displacement of the diffractor from the center plane between the probes.

The value of T is a minimum when X is zero and in this simple case the expression
becomes:

V T = 2 {d2 + S2}1/2 (2)

Commonly reference is made to the lateral wave response, i.e. the depth, d, of indications
are calculated from the time of flight differences, TD, between the lateral wave and the
diffracted pulse. Hence:

d = 1/2 { TD2V 2 + 4TDV S}1/2 (3)

Equation (2) is used generally in the analysis of TOFD data and is thus of basic
importance. The assumption that the flaw is positioned symmetrically between the probes
introduces an error but this can be arranged to have little effect on the accuracy of the
estimated flaw depth.

By use of today's advanced computer techniques it is possible to evaluate signals very

rapidly. That makes it possible to perform scans with a speed of hundreds of millimeters
per second. In practice speed is limited only by the mechanic.
TOFD REFERENCE STANDARDS:
TOFD REFERENCE STANDARDS: