Laser ultrasound wave pattern analysis for efficient defect detection in samples with curved surfaces.

Many production processes involve curved sample surfaces, such as welding or additive manufacturing. These pose new challenges to characterization methods for quality inspection, which are usually optimized for flat extended sample geometries. In this paper, we present a laser ultrasound (LUS) method that can be used to efficiently detect defects (e.

Efficient testing of weld seam models with radii of curvature in the millimeter range using laser ultrasound.

Laser ultrasound is a widely used tool for industrial quality assurance when a contactless and fast method is required. In this work, we used a laboratory setup based on a confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer to examine weld seam models. The focus was placed on small samples with curved surfaces (small in the sense that the radius of curvature is comparable to the largest ultrasonic wavelength) and on efficient ways to detect the presence and volume of process pores, with the goal to transfer this method to industrial applications.