Traceability of acoustic emission measurements using energy calibration methods

Abstract

Passive acoustic emission (AE) methods are becoming useful tools for integrity assessment of structures, monitoring of industrial processes and machines, and materials characterization. Unfortunately, there are no measurement standards for estimating the absolute strength of the AE sources. The lack of standardization makes it very difficult to compare the results obtained in different laboratories or on different structures, and to obtain meaningful repeatability of measurements. Therefore, current methods only give a qualitative rather than quantitative indication of the change of state of structure or process. This communication outlines a way of calibrating AE transducer systems in situ using a pulsed-laser-generated thermoelastic AE energy source or a bouncing-ball-generated elastic impact AE energy source. The methods presented here should enable traceable measurement standards to be established for AE.