Characterisation of interfacial imperfections of TiAl and 40Cr diffusion bonding by ultrasonic amplitude and phase

A characteristics extraction algorithm is proposed to characterise the interfacial imperfections in TiAl and 40Cr diffusion bonding. The algorithm is based on analysing the variation of the ultrasonic amplitude and phase after interacting with the bonding interface. Ultrasonic measurements were performed by an ultrasonic imaging testing system, and broadband transducers with central frequency of the 10 and 20 MHz were employed. Metallographic analyses and shear tests were also performed on the joints. It was found that the amplitude of the reflection coefficient is almost a constant, and the phase of the reflection coefficient is the same for the perfectly bonded interface; for the kissing bond interface, the amplitude increases with the ultrasonic frequency, and the phase is the same at the low frequencies and opposite at the high frequencies; the amplitude does not vary with the frequency, and the phase is opposite for the unbonded interface.