Characterization of Silicate Ceramics Using Ultrasonics Test Method

Abstract

Non-destructive testing techniques are widely used for testing ceramic materials. In our studies, two different types of ultrasonic test methods (A-scan and C-Scan) were investigated as non-destructive testing methods for characterization of porcelain tiles. Tiles were sintered in different temperatures to change their porosity and density properties. By changing of ultrasonic time and velocity related with samples’ some physical properties (such as bulk density, apparent density, apparent porosity (%), water absorption (%)) inspected via contact A-scan ultrasonic test method. The results show that without necessity of traditional test methods, some physical properties of ceramics can be determined by using obtained ultrasonic velocity-bulk density, apparent density, apparent porosity (%) and water absorption (%) calibration plots. Additionally, various defects were inspected in samples by using water immersion ultrasonic C-scan method. These results supported this study to obtain the information about defects’ size and place in the ceramic tiles. To support this non-destructive method results scanning electron microscope (SEM) characterization was done and images give the information about the place of the defect.