Magnetostrictive Cold Spray Sensor Feasibility Assessment
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Innerspec Technologies Inc., Forest, VA (United States)
Ultrasound sensors and inspection systems are frequently used to generate acoustic waves in metal structures capable of detecting and characterizing cracks, pits, erosion, inclusions, weld anomalies, and other material and structural features. One significant problem with piezoelectric transducers is the difficulty to achieve good coupling between the transducer and the surface being examined. This is particularly true in harsh conditions with high temperatures, cyclical hot and cold temperatures, highly radioactive fields found near nuclear reactors or spent nuclear fuel, caustic or corrosive fluids, and other extreme environmental conditions, as well as in long-term monitoring applications where repair or replacement of the sensor is difficult or expensive. Typically, coupling between the surface and the transducer is achieved with water, gel, grease, viscous shear coupling material, or pressure, which might not be possible or appropriate for long-term applications in which the impedance -matching materials wear away, evaporate, or simply stop functioning due to changes in surface conditions. Fluid couplings can evaporate or drain away from the transducer-substrate interface; glue- based couplings may foul or fail and are notoriously unreliable at high temperatures and in radioactive environments. This work explores the behavior of a magnetostrictive cold-spray patch that is metallurgically bonded to a stainless steel inspection target surface, and compares it to the performance of a standard adhesively-bonded ferrous-cobalt magnetostrictive strip solution. Cold-spray is a coating process where 10 –100 micron diameter powdered metal is accelerated to Mach 2 to Mach 3 (2–3 × speed of sound) and impacted on the surface to be coated. Each powder particle forms a kinetic bond with the substrate or other coating particles to produce a metallurgically bonded layer. If the powder is nickel or cobalt with high magnetostrictive coefficients, this surface can serve as the base of a magnetostrictive sensor suitable for crack or pitting-damage inspection and monitoring that is not subject to temporal or environmental degradation.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1475067
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-28014
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Dry coupled magnetostrictive transducers for robotic inspection of dry storage casks - 15304
Feasibility of Lead Fast Reactor Heat Exchanger Tube Online Monitoring