Imaging of Fiber Waviness in Thick Composites with Unknown Material Properties Using Probability-Based Ultrasound Non-Reciprocity

Fiber waviness and voids may be produced in thick composites due to improper manufacturing conditions and consequently pose a risk of structural failure. A proof-of-concept solution for imaging fiber waviness in thick porous composites was proposed from both numerical and experimental studies, via calculating ultrasound non-reciprocity along different wave paths in a sensing network constructed by two phased array probes. Time-frequency analyses were conducted to reveal the cause of ultrasound non-reciprocity in wavy composites. Subsequently, the number of elements in the probes and excitation voltages was determined for fiber waviness imaging using the ultrasound non-reciprocity with a probability-based diagnostic algorithm. The fiber angle gradient was observed to cause ultrasound non-reciprocity and fiber waviness in the thick wavy composites were successfully imaged regardless of presence of voids. This study proposes a new feature for the ultrasonic imaging of fiber waviness and is expected to contribute to processing improvement in thick composites without prior knowledge of material anisotropy.