Effect of Mean Grain Size in the Time of Flight for Lcr Waves
The ultrasonic methods are widely used for evaluation of materials for its inexpensive and practical features. Among the largely used ultrasonic methods is the Critically Refracted Longitudinal Waves (Lcr), which applies longitudinal bulk waves travelling right below the surface, parallel to it. The method can be used to measure stresses near the surface through acoustoelasticity. However, the materials microstructure directly influences the propagation of these waves. The mean grain size is one of the factors that affect the wave speed. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of mean austenitic grain size in the time of flight (TOF) of Lcr wave. Samples (CDPs) of ASTM A36 steel were manufactured with dimensions of 5/8″ × 6″ × 12″. These were submitted to heat treating at the different temperatures ranges and cooled in air to generate different grain sizes. The results were compared to the grain size estimated in the literature and obtained from optical microscopy. The study showed a clear dependence of TOF on mean austenitic grain size for ASTM A36 steel. Such effect has to be studied to allow stress measurements with Lcr waves.